A Place Where I Belong
by Khadon
Summary: ON HIATUS! Harry Potter left Privet Drive forever with only a letter left for his friends. Now, a year later they are going back to Hogwarts where they have to deal with an evil Draco, a new subject, and a teacher who seems to know more about them then he
1. Farewell to Privet Drive

**Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine and it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I don't have the energy to make up a funny disclaimer so you'll all just have to suck it up.**

**Prologue – Farewell to Privet Drive**

A casual observer would look upon Privet Drive and shrug. There was nothing apparently different or interesting about the street. The houses all looked similar even to the almost identical cars in their driveways. Gardens were located in the backyards and all sported similar flowers. There was an air of normalcy which hung over the street. There was only one slight anomaly, overlooked by many, in this perfectly normal street. Of course if all went as planned, soon that anomaly would be gone.

Harry Potter was not like the others who resided on Privet Drive. In fact he was anything but normal, for Harry Potter was a wizard. A wizard who for the past month had been stuck in Number 4 Privet Drive, kept as a virtual prisoner by the Order of the Phoenix and as a slave by his "family". The Dursley's, the other residents of number 4, who were as disgustingly normal as the rest of Privet Drive, had not taken the warnings of the Order to heart. While they had made a point of ensuring Harry had plenty to eat, they did not refrain from pilling him with chores and an assortment of insults and other rude behaviours. He was treated worse than a lowly house elf by these Muggles who above all things hated the magic that was so much a part of him. Things were made even worse for the poor boy by the fact that he was not just any wizard. Harry was special. The wonderful boy-who-lived or as Harry liked to call himself The-boy-who-has-the-entire-fate-of-the-world-resting-on-his-shoulders-and-refuses-to-die-instead-causing-all-who-know-him-to-suffer. At the moment Harry was not a very big fan of himself.

Confronted at the end of the previous school year with the knowledge that he was the only capable of defeating the Dark Lord Voldemort, Harry often felt like doing nothing more then curling up in a ball and hiding from the world. Add to this the fact that the prophecy about his place in the upcoming war was revealed to him right after losing his godfather and it is somewhat understandable that he might not have much will to go on at this point. Which is why if someone were, at that moment observing the young Mr. Potter they might be a little confused at his attitude. Rather then lying on his bead crying, or staring blankly into the night, Harry was just finishing packing all of his possessions into his trunk with a determined glint to his eyes before shrinking the aforementioned trunk and placing it in his pocket. What was even more strange was that although he was breaking the law of under-aged magic there were no owls coming to reprimand him.

Instead owls arriving there was an owl that at that very moment taking flight from the Dursley residence with what would be the last anyone would hear from Harry Potter in some time.

Harry looked on and gave one last smile to his faithful owl as it flew into the distance.

"Stay safe Hedwig. Bring the message to Dumbledore." And then in words spoken to softly for any to hear he whispered, "It's better this way." And with these last words Harry Potter hopped onto his Firebolt broomstick, kicked off, and flew away into the night.

* * *

Many miles away in a room filled with countless magical oddities Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, slept comfortably. Every few moments he would mumble something to the effect of "Why yes. I'd love a Lemon Drop. How kind of you to ask." or "You know, I don't believe I have ever before seen a pair of socks quite so beautiful." or some such nonsense. His sleep was abruptly interrupted by the sudden piercing screech coming from one of the instruments in his office.

In less than the time it would take to say "Hippogriff" Dumbledore was awake and moving quickly, despite his age, towards his office. As he entered he quickly focused on the source of the noise before palling as he realized what the sound must mean.

"The wards." He gasped. If someone had been present to hear these words they would have been both horrified and confused as to the meaning his words. Confused and wondering to which wards he was referring, and horror at the fear underlying his words.

Professor Dumbledore recovered from his shock as he heard a voice calling him from the fireplace.

"Albus! Albus are you there?" came the urgent cry from the school's resident Potions Master, Severus Snape whose head had appeared amidst magical green flames.

Albus rushed over to the fireplace. "What is it Severus?"

Snape glanced around nervously. "I don't have much time. I was summoned to Voldemort 10 minutes ago and informed of an attack on Potter. I'm supposed to be preparing for it right now. What happened to the wards?" The normal stern face of the Potions Master was now slightly panicked.

"The wards have collapsed. Something must have happened between Harry and his relatives. Try and stall as much as possible. I'll be summoning the Order and heading over there as quickly as possible." While he was talking Albus had quickly clothed himself and was in the middle of putting together a note for the Order.

"You need to get there as quickly as possible. I don't know if I'll be able to stall..." Severus quickly looked to the side before answering a call by a Death Eater. He turned back to the Headmaster. "That's it Albus. We're leaving now. Hurry." And with that Snape's head disappeared from the fireplace.

Quickly picking up his wand he called Fawkes, his phoenix, to his side.

"Bring this to the Weasley's at the Burrow." He instructed. Fawkes gave a trill as if to say he understood before grasping the note and vanishing in a puff of fire.

Professor Dumbledore was already picking up a spare quill before pointing his wand and quickly turning it into a Portkey. "PORTUS!" He called out and with that his office was empty.

Seconds later he appeared in the hallway of #12 Grimmauld Place. Quickly silencing the portrait of Mrs. Black before she could get started, he gathered all the available Order members together. The few present at the time were Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody.

Dumbledore quickly got their attention. "A few minutes ago the wards protecting Privet Drive fell." Looks of shock were apparent on all faces.

"What about Harry?" Lupin began to panic at the thought that he might be about to lose yet another person who was important to him.

Dumbledore continued, "Shortly after I was alerted I received a firecall from Severus saying that he had been summoned by Voldemort and that they were staging an attack on Harry. The Weasley's will be meeting us there but we need to move now." With the note of command in his voice none of the Order members hesitated and moments later the only sound in the Orders Headquarters was the popping sound signifying the apparation of five people.

The sight that greeted them was one of destruction. They had come too late. Number 4 Privet Drive was in flames. Muggle fire trucks were already on sight trying to contain the blaze but it was obvious to all that no one was still alive on the inside. Bright orange flames appeared to be covering every surface of the home and the heat seared the throats of those nearby.

A series of quick pops signaled the arrival of Arthur and Molly Weasley along with their son Bill.

"Harry!" Molly shrieked. "Is he still inside?" She looked to Dumbledore in horror, her eyes pleading him to calm her fears.

Albus Dumbledore had never looked as old as he did now. His shoulders slumped and the twinkle customarily found in his eyes missing he turned to Molly. She chocked back a sob as she saw the despair reflected in his eyes.

"We don't know Molly. We were too late arriving." He glanced over towards the inferno. "We'll just have to wait till the fire is out and we can check for bodies."

A thick cloud of despair covered the Order members as they watched the Muggle firemen battling the blaze. After what seemed like hours the last flames were finally extinguished. Albus and the Order waited with baited breath as the firemen entered the ruins of Number 4 and began their search for bodies. Before long a call was heard.

"We've got bodies here."

A fireman who had remained outside of the house responded.

"How many? Any signs of life." It was a foolish hope and the man knew it.

"No, they're all dead. Give me a second and I'll get you a count." Came the response from inside.

Arthur Weasley was holding is wife who was sobbing in his arms and Remus Lupin had crumpled to the ground with his head in his hands.

"No, not Harry too. Please not Harry." His words were chocked out and tears were falling from his eyes unashamedly.

"We've got what looks to be a husband and wife based on the wedding rings. Looks like they tried to protect a boy with their bodies. Boy's dead too though." came the call from inside.

"So just the three then?"

"Looks that way. Let me check the rest of the house."

Lupin lifted is his head and hope seemed to have come back to his eyes. "It's not Harry. They'd never protect Harry." He muttered.

Finally, after and hour of sifting through the rubble the firemen exited the wreckage.

"That's it. Three dead. Let's get them out of here."

The words seemed to flow through the Order members giving them a renewed sense of hope. Only Professor Dumbledore still seemed concerned. Remus rose to his feet and turned to the Headmaster.

"If Harry wasn't in there then where is he?" he asked

Dumbledore was frowning. "I fear that if Harry is no longer here then he may have been taken prisoner by the Death Eaters."

And just like that their hope had been crushed.

Dumbledore gave a sigh and looked up into the sky. "Where are you Harry?" he asked hoping for an answer to drop out of the sky. And it did.

In the form of Hedwig, Harry's owl finally arriving at her destination after having to turn around part way. Hedwig quickly descended and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder, sticking his leg out and offering the message he carried.

"Is it from Harry?" The question was echoed from many mouths.

Dumbledore took the parchment and enrolled it. All those assembled waited with bated breath as they watched Dumbledore's eyes slowly travel down the page. As he finished he gave a great sigh before answering.

"It's from Harry. Voldemort doesn't have him."

A cheer came from the assembled Order members causing some strange looks from some of the muggles who hadn't yet returned to their homes.

Dumbledore raised his hand to silence them and all noticed that he was not looking relieved.

"It's from Harry." he continued, "He's run away."

"WHAT!" again the exclamation came from many mouths and gained the attention of the muggles.

"He's left the wizarding world. He didn't say for where, or for how long. He's just leaving."

Shock silenced was the only response until Tonks spoke up. "What do we do now then."

Dumbledore's voice was firm. "We find him and bring him back."

Of course, despite his admirable intentions they would in fact not find, see or even hear from Harry for over a year.

* * *

**A/N:** I've had this story idea floating around in my head for awhile now and I just had to start writing it. It's going to be a long one a with more of a plot than my other fic. I'll probably be taking turns writing for this one and "An End To It All" which will be getting an update soon. Hope you guys like it.


	2. Letters and Mysterious Wizards

**Disclaimer: **None of the characters are mine because you haven't met any OC's yet. You will but not yet. Until then it all belongs To J.K. Rowling so don't get confused and think I came up with this all by myself and am making money off of it. Believe me, it ain't happening.

**Chapter 1 – Letters and Mysterious Wizards**

The moon shone brightly into the cluttered room of the Hogwarts Headmaster. With only the flickering light of the fire and the quiet snores of the portraits Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his chair, staring at a sheet of parchment as he had often done during the past year. This piece of parchment was the one on which Harry Potter had written his farewell to all his friends and family almost a year ago. Today felt a little different from the other nights because today was Harry's birthday. Filled with memories of the boy he had failed Dumbledore picked up the parchment and began to read it yet again.

_**For the twinkling and all too often blind eyes of Albus Dumbledore,**_

_I imagine that after you finish reading this letter you won't be altogether very pleased with me. I'd like to be able to say that I was sorry but that just wouldn't be true. You see, I'm leaving Privet Drive and likely all of England behind. I'm tired of being kept in the dark, I'm tired of being locked with people who would happily give everything they had to be done with me, and I'm tired of being used as your weapon._

_I don't trust you Professor. I don't hate you anymore for ignoring me or for not telling me about the prophecy. I've come to grips with the fact that it wasn't your fault, my fault, or hell even Snape's fault that Sirius died. Voldemort and Lestrange are the ones to blame and I realize that. But I still don't trust you or your judgment anymore. You've just made to many mistakes for me to rely on you anymore._

_I know that at this point you're probably thinking that I'm acting foolishly and childishly in putting myself in danger. You say that I must stay with the Dursley's because the family bond will protect me. You say that as long as I can call Privet Drive "home" then I'm protected. Well I can't call it home. I may be living there but it has never been a home to me._

_I could go on about the Dursley's all day but I have neither the time nor the energy to dreg up all they have done to me over the years. I suppose I should get to the point. I know that I'm apart of the prophecy and that my job is to kill Voldemort. I will do this but on my terms. As you may have realized by this point I have been doing some learning this summer. I can mask my magical signature and have been training my self in spells and survival. Now I feel it's time for me to go out into the world and learning as much as I can. I won't be returning to Hogwarts and I encourage you not to waste your time and resources trying to find me and bring me back. You won't be successful. Not that I believe you will take that advice but I felt I should get it out of the way anyways. You need to trust that I know what I'm doing and will be safe. _

_The one thing I am sorry for is placing you in the position of having to tell the Weasley's what I've done. I think the most terrifying thing in the world is Molly Weasley when she's mad and I bet that if you put her up against the Death Eaters she could have them on their knees begging for forgiveness in seconds. Ginny Weasley also seems to be a close runner-up in the "People you really don't want to get mad contest" and if you get caught between the two of them my only advice is this: Run!_

_I've charmed this letter so that it will show a different message depending on who is reading it. Please make duplicates of the letter for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred & George, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Remus and Snape. Yes, there is a special message for Professor Snape but I beg that you don't let Mrs. Weasley see it. The language might cause her to......be a little cross with me._

_I will be back, have faith in that. Take care Professor._

**_Harry Potter (a.k.a. the-boy-who-lived-elsewhere)_**

_P.S. Don't you dare tell anyone what the prophecy is or you'll never see me again._

Professor Dumbledore allowed a small smile to come over his face. The varying reactions to Harry's individual letters had been interesting to say the least. Professor Snape had begun to sputter with fury less then halfway through the letter before he burnt it refusing to tell anyone what it said while going off and muttering about giving "so many detentions that his grandchildren will be scrubbing cauldrons.". Fred & George had felt that their letter was extremely amusing and after they finally managed to stop laughing had gone into a flurry of creation which had resulted in a prank item which caused the consumer to turn into a copy of Professor Snape in a pink dress. The poor victim would then begin to spit out phrases like, "15 points off of Gryffindor because I'm ugly." Or "50 points off Gryffindor because Harry Potter is such a sexy beast." These candies resulted in Professor Snape once more giving into fury and all students found carrying _Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes _were given detentions along with lectures on what he thought of those "disgusting and vile creations". Others had broken into tears after reading their letters and the smile disappeared from Dumbledore's face as he thought of the youngest Weasley who hadn't stopped crying for days afterwards and who for the past year had been rarely seen to be smiling or laughing.

The aged Headmaster gave one last sigh before placing the parchment on his desk once more and rising to his feet. He was almost late for an Order meeting and knew that he would have to leave soon in order to make it on time.

As he arrived at the house he was quickly drawn into a number of conversations with various Order members. All who had arrived were too engrossed in their own thoughts or conversations that as they had arrived no one had noticed a dark figure outside who had been observing the house and noting all their entrances. The figure, cloaked all in black with the hood covering his face, gave himself a small satisfied as he saw the Headmaster enter.

"I hope they're ready." Was all he said.

* * *

Miles away, a little outside the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, in a small house affectionately called "The Burrow" a young girl was caught up in her own thoughts about the missing Mr. Potter. Ginny Weasley, youngest of the Weasley bunch, was lying on her bed re-reading her own copy of Harry's farewell letter.

**_To the one whose eyes are as brown as a chocolate frog,_**

_Hi Ginny. At this point I'm wondering if you're madder at me for leaving or for reminding you of that horrible poem your brothers sent me second year that you got blamed for. Probably the poem right?_

_Of all the people who I've written to and left behind I feel the worst about leaving you. After ignoring you until about the end of my fifth year I finally noticed you and now I've left. You are one of the most selfless people I've ever had the honor to call my friend and I don't know how you've put up with my letters for the past few weeks. You did though and somehow your words of encouragement have pulled me out of my depression like no one else could have. Since then we've been writing back and forth and I feel like I've gotten to know the real Ginny and not the one who blushed whenever she saw me while sticking her elbow in the butter. Now don't be mad, I know I promised I would never bring that up again but I'm just trying to illustrate my point and to emphasize how happy I am to have gotten the Ginny Weasley who could give the twins a run for their money and who won't put up with my brooding. I'm sorry that just after we've begun to form what I felt was a close friendship I'm abandoning you. I know it isn't fair of me and that you'll probably hate me but it's something I need to do._

_I assume that you've been briefed on the fact that I've run away and that I won't be back for awhile while I seek out some training. I can't just hope that I'll be able to learn what I need to at Hogwarts and it will be safer for you all if I'm not around._

_You are one my best friends Ginny and you've helped me so much. I hope that when I come back you can forgive me and that you'll still count me as a friend._

_I will be back Ginny. You can count on that._

_Love,_

_**Harry.**_

_P.S. See if you can get Ron and Hermione together. If I come back just to see them still dancing around each other I may just snap. Lock them in a broom closet or something and don't let them out until they've managed to tell each other how they feel._

Ginny gave a sniffling laugh as she always did whenever she read the last line. Her brother really was clueless and while Hermione was recognized as the smartest witch in school she wasn't as smart when it came to understanding her love for the red-haired prat. Ron had spent many hours nervously pacing and trying to come up with ways of telling Hermione how he felt but time and time again his Gryffindor courage would abandon him and he would spend a week muttering to himself about how "she could never like me back" before gathering his courage and beginning the whole cycle once more. Ginny had spent many nights locked in her room simply to gain some peace of mind from his constant "Hermione is so wonderful what could she ever see in me?" talk. Her darling brother may care a great deal for Hermione but that didn't make listening to him go on and on about her any fun.

Ginny found her thoughts returning to her own prat. The raven haired boy with emerald eyes that, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, she loved. 'Of course Harry will probably never feel the same way about me' she thought to herself, 'I was never more then Ron's little sister to him and then when I finally started making some progress at building a friendship with him he goes and runs off. Typical.' she gave a huff, crumpled up the letter and threw it into the garbage beside her bed and began to glare at the ceiling. After a few minutes she gave a sigh before reclaiming the letter and ironing out the wrinkles on it. It was almost time for her to get another copy of the letter because this one was becoming quite worn. She had gone through dozens of these letters having burnt them, thrown them away, or cried on them so often that the ink began to run. No matter how many times they were ruined she always got another one because as much as she hated to admit it she couldn't stop reading them. They gave her hope. Especially the ending. She didn't know if he meant what she hoped he meant when he signed it _Love, Harry_, 'but wouldn't it be great if he did mean it.' She sighed again. She rose from her bed and went to the open window and looked out at the stars.

"Come back Harry." She whispered into the night. "Please come back. I need you." She sniffed away another tear before lying down on her bed and drifting off dream of a boy she loved.

* * *

"Severus, if you could give us your report now please." Professor Dumbledore and the other gathered Order members directed their gaze to the Death Eater turned spy who rose to his feet before speaking.

"Since the Potter's disappearance," he said the name _Potter_ as if it was a particularly disgusting ingredient for one of his potions "the Dark Lord has been somewhat hesitant to launch any full scale attacks. He fears some sort of trap and since he not been able to reach the boy's mind since whatever occurred at the Ministry he has as much of idea as us on where the boy could be. This is to say none at all. In the last few months however, he begun to resume the attacks that made him so feared during his first rise: Random muggle killings, witches and wizards found dead with the Dark Mark flying over head, disappearances, the whole bit. He seems to have decided that if Potter hasn't shown himself by now then he probably has no intention of doing so. For all we know he is correct and Potter is dead and never to return." Many angry mutterings were heard at this.

"Let us pray that is not the case Severus." Dumbledore said sadly. Snape's only response to those words was a sneer before continuing.

"As I was saying, he has begun his attacks once more with mixed results. Many of his first attacks met with little resistance and were successes but in the past two weeks many of the attacks have failed for unknown reasons. Squads of Death Eaters have gone on missions only to find their targets missing. On some occasions the Death Eaters are the ones who disappear leaving no trace behind. The Dark Lord is furious and had demanded that we find out what is happening and he suspects a traitor. As I am the only one spying on Voldemort that I'm aware of I can provide no reason for these failed missions though on occasions some of the Death Eaters have returned saying they thought they saw a cloaked figure watching them. One moment he would be there, the next gone. Voldemort believe they are just making excuses and takes great delights in punishing them for their mistakes." All assembled shuddered. "I'll keep listening for more information but I've been told very little recently. He trusts almost no one with his plans besides Malfoy and Lestrange." Having finished his report the Potions Master returned to his seat thus opening the topic up for discussion."

"Has anybody else heard anything about a mysterious wizard?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, an Auror for the Ministry, was the first to speak, "We haven't gotten any reports of mysterious wizards but there has been some strange things happening. For a little while suspected Death Eaters were just appearing in Ministry cells all by themselves." Kingsley gave a grunt of disgust "Course Fudge would always make us release them immediately saying that we had no right to be arresting innocent wizards without a shred of proof. Never mind the fact that none of us had done it and we all knew they were Death Eaters. After three or four times of this happening they just stopped appearing. As if whoever was putting them there realized it was pointless."

Dumbledore's brow furrowed in confusion, "Has anyone else noticed anything?"

"Some of the darker elements in Knockturn Alley have been talking. Their scared, really scared. Somebody has been going around and putting the fear of God into them. Thing is, no one knows whose doing it so everyone's suspicious of everyone else." Mundungus Fletcher, one of the seedier members of the Order, gave a sniff of disgust, "It's bad for business. No one's telling anyone anything and everyone's on edge. Just hope whoever is doing this is on our side." His words received many nods of agreement.

Dumbledore removed his spectacles and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Right. Everyone keep an ear out and report back if you can find out anything about this mysterious new player." He rose to his feet. "That's all for tonight." And with that the meeting was over. Some of the gathered witches and wizards left immediately while others formed small groups and shared thoughts on the meeting. Before long the only people left were Dumbledore, Snape, Remus, Moody, and Tonks. They had gathered together in the hall and after Dumbledore sent a quick locking charm at the door to make sure no one interrupted he turned to Remus. "Now that everyone's gone, Remus is there any word on Harry's whereabouts?"

Remus Lupin was not looking well. The full moon was coming soon and as always his condition caused him to be particularly worn and week in these days leading up to it. He shook his head, "Still nothing." Dumbledore took a moment to assess the werewolf's condition. Since Harry's disappearance Remus had been placed in charge of the search for Harry and while at first the mission had seemed to help him get over the loss of his last friend, Sirius, his failure at finding his friends godson had sent him into a deeper level of depression. "I just don't understand how this could be happening. He shouldn't have been able to just disappear like that."

Dumbledore sighed. "We must remember that Mr. Potter is a very resourceful young wizard and constantly surprises us. We must assume that he is still alive and well. While Voldemort seems to expect that Harry won't return if Harry had died I'm sure he would have made some sort of announcement to the effect that his greatest enemy was no more. We must just trust that Harry will return when he is ready. Until then we must continue to look while trying to determine the identity of this mysterious wizard."

As if his words had caused it to happen, the door swung open revealing a tall figure cloaked all in black.

The only sound was that of a resounding group jaw dropping. Somehow this man had managed to enter through a door that had been sealed by one of the powerful wizards in the world. The powerful wizard in question was the only one who managed to keep his cool. In fact the only sign that Professor Dumbledore was surprised at all was the raising of one eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" the stranger's question was tinged with the slightest bit of amusement.

His words seemed to cause them to snap out of their stupor and in an instant there were five wands pointing at him.

He laughed, "Now really, there's no need for that is there? Why don't you all put down your wands and we can discuss this like adults."

Not surprisingly this suggestion did not meet with much success.

"How about instead you keep your hands where we can see them and you explain just how exactly you found this place." Moody growled.

The stranger shrugged, "Have it your way." He brought his hands into the air before waving one of them and whispering something under his breath as he did so. Immediately seven wands came flying towards him to form a pile at his feet. "Well, well, well." He laughed, "It looks like some of you are carrying more then one wand. No matter, now that we have those pesky wands out of the way..."

A short cough from Dumbledore interrupted him. He looked up to see Dumbledore with his wand still calmly pointing at him. This seemed to throw him for a minute as if he couldn't understand how that could have happened.

"Hmmmm, well, that was interesting." He said under his breath. This time as he muttered something under his breath he waved both hands and the wand came flying. "There, that's better." He sounded quite satisfied with himself.

"Who do you think you are?" Snape sneered.

"Well Snape, right now I'd say I'm the wizard who was able to take eight wands away from five wizards in less then thirty seconds. Do you have a problem with that?" There was no sense of amusement left in his voice.

Snape paled slightly. Remus on the other hand was unable to completely contain his laughter at the site of his long time nemesis being cowed. He quickly turned his laughter into a cough as he observed the death glare being sent his way by Snape. After overcoming his "coughing fit" and, with a slight smile still on his face, he spoke up. "While I don't share the good professors attitude," he pointed to Snape, "I'm sure we would feel much more comfortable if we knew who we were speaking too." His words were met with nods of agreement from the others.

"Why Remus, I'm hurt that you don't recognize me." He appeared to be amused once more. "I suppose it's been awhile but honestly, I'm a little disappointed in you." He brought his hands up to the hood of his cloak and began to slowly lower it. After a couple of seconds he stopped let the hood settle back onto his head. "I'm sorry, but are you sure you don't recognize me? None of you?" They all shook there heads though Dumbledore's eyes seemed to be twinkling. The stranger turned to Snape, "You of all people must recognize me. Come on...10 points from Gryffindor for breathing? 50 points for reminding me of your father? Any of this ringing any bells?" He paused for a second before speaking again. "No idea who I am..._Snivellus_?"

Twin gasps came from Remus and Snape but while Remus's was one of shock and glee, Snape was furious.

"Y-y-you!" Snape seemed ready to attack the stranger bare-handed as he realized who was standing before him.

"There we go. Now he's got it." Tonks and Moody didn't get the Snivellus reference and were still confused as the stranger finally lowered his hood to reveal a pair of emerald green eyes looking at them from under a mop of messy black hair. He brushed the hair from his forehead to reveal a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt.

"HARRY!!" Tonks squealed and promptly fell forward as Moody went crashing into her from behind.

* * *

A/N: Oh come on. You all know you love the cliffies. If I didn't leave you all wanting more then you wouldn't get excited about updates. Cliffies are good. Well, that's the end of that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review please.

Fine, if you're all going to be a babies and complain than I'll write more.

(Back to the Story)

* * *

While Harry had been playing around with the revelation of his identity Moody was struggling with his wooden leg. Sometime since the school year he had spent locked up in a trunk he had become even more paranoid about being attacked. His solution: Turn his wooden leg into a wand for emergency use. Now even if he lost his wand and back-up wand he would still be able to cast simple spells with his leg. His only problem was that when coming up with this plan he had never expected to come into contact with a summoning spell as powerful as Harry's. Ever since Harry had summoned all their wands his leg had tried to go as well. Thus, while Snape was being insulted and Remus was having his "coughing fit" Moody was trying as hard as he could to stop his leg from joining the pile of wands at Harry's feet and bringing him with it. When Tonks squealed out Harry's name Moody was momentarily distracted and the leg went flying. Tonks was unfortunately standing in-between Harry and Moody and as he went flying forward he knocked into her causing her to fall forward and crash into the ground.

Watching Tonks and Moody struggle to untangle themselves from the floor appeared to be too comical for some and soon the two struggling aurors were joined on the ground by the laughing forms of Harry and Remus.

Tonks blushed furiously as she rose to her feet muttering under her breath, "The one time someone else is clumsy they have to take me down with them. As if it doesn't happen enough." Unfortunately for Tonks these words were overheard and Harry and Remus into another fit of laughter. They finally managed to get control of themselves and rose under the combined glares of Tonks, Moody, and Snape, who was still smarting from the insults he had received earlier. It looked the Potions professor was about to explode. "Potter! What are you doing here? Tired of running away like the scared little child you are?"

He was confronted by a cool mask which seemed to have slipped over Harry's face hiding all emotions from those watching him. Locking gazes with Snape he responded in a cool tone that greatly unnerved the others in the group. "That's one Snape. I'm not the same boy you used to terrorize in Potions class. You'll get three warnings from me and after that I'll treat you like the Death Eater scum you used to be."

"Why you arrogant little..." Snape jumped forward with out-stretched hands with the intention of throttling the boy only to freeze suddenly in place. Harry was watching him with a slight smirk on his face, one hand raised palm facing towards the frozen wizard. "That's two. Don't push me." He took two steps to the left and lowered his hand thereby unfreezing Snape and sending him sprawling as he regained his momentum only to hit no resistance and fall to the floor.

Harry's smile found its way back onto his face. "As to why I'm here. I own this place don't I? That's what Sirius's Will said before I left. Aren't I allowed to visit my property once in awhile?"

Remus leapt forward and quickly enfolded the boy in a werewolf enhanced hug which caused his breath to come rushing out. "Thank God you're back Harry. What were you thinking? Do you have any idea how were worried we were about you? Molly nearly had a heart attack when you went missing."

Having just extracted himself from the hug, Harry paled slightly. "She's not here right now is she?" he glanced around furtively. As Remus shook his head he gave a sigh of relief. "I love Mrs. Weasley but when she gets going she's frightening. I imagine that by the time she got done with me I'd be heading for the hills again." His comment received some chuckling from the others.

"It seems that you are doing quite well Harry. May I assume that you are back for good?" Dumbledore's slightly raised eyebrow gave the impression that if the answer wasn't yes there would be some trouble.

Harry flashed him a smile. "I was thinking of sticking nearby for a little while. That shouldn't present itself as a problem should it?"

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eye was almost blinding. "Not at all. Your friends and Hogwarts will be quite happy to welcome you back."

Harry's smile was replaced with a frown. "I'm afraid that I won't be returning to Hogwarts this year. I'd also appreciate it if none of you tell my friends I'm back. They'll find out eventually but for now its better that we keep the number of people who know I'm back limited to those in this room.

It was Dumbledore's turn to frown and he gazed sternly at Harry. "I'm afraid that you must return to Hogwarts. It is the safest place for you and you must continue your magical learning. You'll have plenty to catch up on to make up for your year's absence."

Harry met Dumbledore's gaze and refused to budge. "I'm not going back Professor. While I respect your opinion you're wrong. Hogwarts has nothing left to teach me."

"Of course the stupid boy-who-lived strolls back into town and expects everyone to jump to do what he says. Always trying to get special attention just like your father. You have every last bit of his arrogance in you Potter." It seemed that being frozen in place and not left a lasting impression on Snape and he was quick to take another opportunity to insult his least favourite student.

Still keeping his eyes locked on Dumbledore's, Harry shot his hand out palm facing up and conjured a blue ball of energy. The ball of blue light went flying towards Snape and hit him in the chest sending him flying into the wall where he remained frozen. Still without moving his eyes Harry drew a dagger from a concealed sheaf and sent it flying at the frozen wizard where it came to a halt three inches from his throat.

Finally turning from Dumbledore's gaze Harry spoke calmly and slowly, "That's three Snape. No more warnings." The dagger moved from its position in front of the throat to slice through the fabric on the left arm of Snape's robes revealing the Dark Mark hidden underneath. "Anymore insults from you and all you'll be to me is a body with a Mark. Trust me when I say you don't want that." The dagger returned moved back to its place three inches from Snape's throat. "Why don't I just leave that there for a little while so you don't forget." And then as an after thought Harry added, "and I wouldn't recommend you struggle against the spell holding you. I'd hate it if I got distracted and lost my control." With that the dagger slid forward till it was pricking his neck before returning to its original position.

"Now where were we?" Harry said, scratching his chin as if deep in thought. Suddenly his eyes lit up, "Oh I remember." And with that he turned and locked eyes with Dumbledore once more. "I was telling you that I'm not going back to Hogwarts."

"Harry, you need to be safe. Hogwarts is the best place for that." Remus pleaded. "I can't lose you too."

Harry turned from Dumbledore and his face softened as he spoke to the disheartened werewolf. "Moony, I'm sorry but Hogwarts isn't the place for me. I need to take the fight to Voldemort and I can't do that if I'm stuck at the school. Try and understand, I'm not a child you need to protect... or a tool." This last comment was directed towards Dumbledore who managed to refrain from wincing at the not so hidden resentment in the young man's voice.

"Harry..." Dumbledore tried to speak but was quickly interrupted. "No! I'm not going back. There's really nothing you can do to make me so why don't you just drop it." As Harry spoke the assembled group could feel the magical energy rippling off of him and they all knew that if Harry wasn't going to do something then even if they pooled their talents they still wouldn't be able to force him to so much as cough.

Dumbledore studied Harry for a moment longer taking in all the changes that had come over the boy in the past year. "Very well, if it is your wish not to return to Hogwarts then we will respect that." Remus, Tonks and Moody seemed to be in a state of shock that Dumbledore was just going to let Harry go. Remus opened his mouth to argue but was silenced by Dumbledore. "He's proved that we can't force him to do anything and if the magical power he has demonstrated so far is any indication then we must assume he can take care of himself." Only the twinkle in his eyes was an indication that he had an idea of how to deal with Harry. "If you don't mind Harry I have a request that I wish to discuss with you in private."

Clearly surprised that Dumbledore had agreed so easily, Harry simply nodded his head in agreement before following the Headmaster up the stairs and into the library.

* * *

The two wizards each found a seat in the library and Harry did the honours of putting up some privacy spells to keep their words from being overheard.

After a couple of minutes of analysing one another Dumbledore was the first to break the silence.

"May I assume from your new skills that you managed to find a teacher for yourself?"

Harry smirked slightly but was unable to completely hide the pain reflected in his eyes. "Yes I did." Was his only response.

"Would I be correct in assuming that those skills which you demonstrated downstairs are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg?"

With the same smirk Harry replied, "You might be."

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes had almost reached blinding status. "In that case I have a proposition for you."

* * *

A/N: Okay, that's all you get. I know you still all hate me but I don't care. I know it's been a while between updates and I apologize. I wish I could write faster but I often seem to be encountering blocks as I try to put my ideas down into half-decent writing. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

Please pardon all spelling and grammar mistakes. I had to choose between posting this now or waiting for two or three days to get it beta read. I figured I'd already let you guys wait too long. Hope you don't mind and can excuse any error's

Now for some quick responses:

**Kraeg 001:** I have read The Art of Peace but I won't really be going in that direction.

**GiGiFanFic:** When I say long I'm hoping to be within that 25-30 chapter limit you were talking about but making those chapters a decent size. I'll try and update as quickly as possible even though I'll be writing more and splitting my time between two stories.

**Lady of Masobolle:** As you can see from this chapter Ginny would very much like it to be. As for what will happen in the future...

**Geminia: **You are absolutely right. Hedwig is a girl and I have no idea how I made that mistake. I think I've decided to blame it on...you know what? I've got nothing, it was all my fault and I wasn't paying attention. I won't make that mistake again. Hopefully.

**Ters: **I dislike waiting too so I always feel guilty when I haven't updated in a while. Glad to know you're enjoying both stories so far.

That's all the responses for now. Thanks to all who reviewed you all make me want to keep writing. Next chapter will feature the return of Harry's friends to Hogwarts and the introduction of a new teacher and subject. Do you guys have any preference on who you want teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts? I'm kinda torn between throwing in Tonks, Lupin, or Kingsley. Let me know who you think I should use.


	3. The worm, the train, and the teacher

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and all his friends belong to someone other than me. If anyone is unaware as to who this someone is then I'm very surprised. You must not be "with it" if you haven't figured out that J.K. Rowling came up with all this stuff not me. The plot is mine though and so is Orion. Who is Orion? You guys won't know till you read this chapter.

**Chapter 2 – The worm, the train, and the teacher**

Severus Snape, Potions Master and bane of Gryffindors all over England, was not having a good day. It had started out nicely enough until he had come to the evenings Order meeting. He had managed to get his usual quota of sneers and biting remarks throughout the course of the meeting and he was quite enjoying how lost Lupin looked. Even years later Snape still did not like the werewolf/Marauder and it gave him a sense of satisfaction to see the man wallowing over the disappearance of the Potter child. 'Leaving is the one useful thing that boy has ever done' he had thought to himself. But then in a display of cosmic unfairness the damn boy had returned far more powerful then before yet with the same disrespect for authority. That is why Snape now found himself stuck against a wall with a knife poking at his throat every few seconds. He had been left there some time ago while Harry and Dumbledore spoke in private. If that wasn't enough to put him in a bad mood the Dark Mark on his arm had started to burn signaling that he was being summoned by Voldemort. Trapped by magic as he was he could not leave and since the Dark Lord hated when his followers didn't show up Snape knew he would be receiving the Cruciatus curse aplenty when he managed to get there. All because of that infernal boy. Who did he think he was threatening him? Because of him his position as a spy could be compromised. At that moment Snape decided to truly give the boy a piece of his mind...that is, as soon as the boy in question got back and released him from his spells.

Snape was forced to wait for his chance as another half hour passed before Dumbledore and Harry finally returned to the group. Dumbledore was twinkling brightly while Harry looked slightly resigned as if being convinced to do something he really didn't want to do. Snape watched as Harry approached the trio of wizards waiting for information. He was upset to see that Potter didn't even spare him a glance, nor did he make any motion to undo his spells.

"I've spoken with Albus and I'm afraid in order for his plan to work," Harry cast a glare towards the still twinkling Headmaster "I'm going to have to leave to get some things ready." He then turned to speak solely to Lupin. "I'm sorry Moony but it looks like I'm going to have to leave you for awhile again."

"When will you be back?" Snape would have sneered at the pathetic plea that could be heard in the werewolf's voice. That is he would have sneered if he wasn't still concerned about that damn dagger.

Harry gave a soft smile "Don't worry Moony. You'll be seeing me before long." He gave the werewolf a pat on the back before walking to the door. He was stopped at the door by a slight cough from Dumbledore. "Aren't you forgetting something Harry?"

Harry turned but looked slightly confused. "I don't think so."

Snape seethed inwardly. This whelp was planning on just leaving him here?

Dumbledore gave a nod in Snapes direction.

"Oh." Potter at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. "I guess I forgot about him didn't I?" He walked over to the Potions Master and took away the dagger and replaced it in a hidden sheath. "Now Snape, have you learned your lesson? Are you going to remain civil with me?" He paused and tried to gauge Snape's response. After a couple of seconds he smiled, "I'll take your remaining silent and turning a brilliant fuchsia while glaring at me as a resounding YES." His eyes glazed over momentarily and then with a wave of his hand Snape felt the magic that had been holding him disappear. He dropped to floor and clutched his arm which hadn't stopped burning since he had first been summoned. Harry turned and resumed his trek towards the exit. Snape took this opportunity to glare daggers at the boy's retreating back. "Do you have any idea what you've done Potter?" he spat the words out, "The Dark Lord summoned me almost an hour ago and because of your damn trick I haven't answered him. Now he'll be suspicious of me. You've thrown my work to get him to trust me back by months."

Harry turned and everyone was surprised to see that he looked greatly amused. "Shoot." He said while snapping his fingers once, "I knew I was forgetting something."

Dumbledore was not as impressed. "Harry did you intentionally stop Professor Snape from attending this Death Eater meeting."

Harry simply smiled at the Headmaster mischievously. "Me? Now how could you think I would do something like that?"

Snape was now looking quite smug as he thought of the boy getting in trouble. It might not make up for the punishment he would receive but it would certainly help.

Dumbledore frowned. "Harry, how could you have risked his position amongst the Death Eaters and his very life for a simple prank? Perhaps I was hasty in agreeing to you be ready."

Now it was Harry's turn to give a disappointing look at the Headmaster. When he finally spoke the cold emotionless voice from earlier had returned. "Well Albus, perhaps you should get all the facts first. I would never endanger our fight against Riddle and I would have expected you to understand that what I did was done for a reason."

Snape sneered. "And what could that possibly be?"

Harry turned his glare to Snape. "You need to realize that not everyone lets petty grudges get in the way of their jobs Snivellus. My reason for not allowing you to answer the call was that if you had gone to Voldie tonight then he would have killed you."

Everyone was stunned and Snape palled. "Nonsense. He hasn't shown any sign of questioning my loyalty."

Harry smirked. "Nothing besides sending a spy to monitor your activities that is." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the frozen body of a rat. A rat that had one silver paw."

"Pettigrew." Remus growled as he recognized his former friend.

Harry smiled at his friend. "Yes Moony, I caught him. Seems he had been following Snape here for awhile and had reported back enough to convince Voldie that Snivellus here wasn't loyal." He turned to look at Snape once more. "Snape, if you had gone tonight you would have been revealed as a spy and tortured before being killed. Don't bother thanking me or anything."

Everyone else was too stunned to reply and watched silently as Harry tossed the frozen Animagus to Remus's feet before leaving Grimmauld Place and apparating away with a pop.

* * *

The rest of the summer holidays had gone quickly for Ginny, filled as they were with household chores and the odd day at Diagon Alley helping out in the twins store. Before long September 1st had rolled around and the Weasleys were arriving at Kings Cross station to bored the Hogwarts Express. As she walked through the barrier to Platform 9¾, closely followed by her brother Ron, she quickly tried to spot the messy mop of black hair which would mean Harry had returned.

"He won't be here Gin." She turned to look at her brother. "You don't know that. Maybe he's back now." She knew she was just trying to convince herself and Ron knew it too. "If he was going to be here we would have known." He sighed. "I'm starting to think that he isn't ever going to come back."

Ginny didn't get a chance to disagree as the two young Weasleys heard someone calling out to them.

"RON! GINNY!"

They turned just in time to see a blur of bushy hair push its way through the crowd before quickly enveloping them both into a three-way hug.

"Hermione! We've got to breath." Ginny squeaked out. Hermione quickly let go blushing slightly and Ginny was amused to see her brother was looking a little disgruntled that his hug had been cut short. She smiled to herself. 'This could be fun'

Hermione covered her embarrassment by quickly starting to talk. "Oh you won't believe it. I got made Head Girl! I never thought I would get it. I mean, I always hoped but with all the trouble we always got into I never really believed it. Oh it's going to be great. Head Girl gets a free pass to the Restricted section of the library whenever they want. Just think about all the books I'll be able to read. I'll be able to learn so much."

Somehow she seemed to have gotten this all out in one breath and both Ron and Ginny looked slightly dazed.

Ginny was the first to catch up. "Congratulations!" she squealed quickly giving her friend a hug. "We knew you'd get it."

This seemed to snap Ron out of his daze. "Of course they'd give it to you. If the smartest witch in the school wasn't made Head Girl then we would have staged a revolt." He said as he took his turn at giving her a hug. Ginny giggled to herself as she watched both of them share a brief hug before separating and blushing brightly.

"Well," Ginny said sweetly, "if the two of you are done maybe we should get ourselves onto the train?" Hermione blushed even more before nodding her head and leading the way through the crowds to the train. Ron gave his sister a glare, which was met by an innocent smile, before picking up his trunk and following after.

'This is the year Harry. I think they're finally going to get together.' she sighed to herself. 'If only you were here to see it.' With this last thought she began dragging her trunk in pursuit of her brother and her best friend.

The three quickly found an empty compartment and before long were joined by Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Since the Department of Mysteries adventure and Harry's subsequent disappearance the five had stuck together and the Gryffindor Trio had been replaced by the Group of Five as they were sometimes referred to. Luna hadn't changed much in the past year and was still as "Loony" as ever but the rest of them had come to appreciate her individuality. Though she would still often get on Hermione's nerves when she would tell them of some crazy story being printed in the Quibbler, her father's newspaper.

"Did you read this months copy of the Quibbler. Harry has been seen in England and will be attending Hogwarts this year disguised as a first year. He's trying to hide from the Ministry who found out he's been trying to subvert all the Boggle Sprunts and get them to leave the Ministry." Everyone rolled their eyes at her for they had heard too many of her crazy theories to give them much credit.

Hermione quickly rose to her feet dragging Ron with her. "Well Ron and I need to go to the prefects meeting now. I'm just dying to find out who the Head Boy is and we need to have a meeting so we can pass out the rules to all the prefects."

She had begun to drag Ron towards the door but she stopped when she noticed him blushing. "What wrong Ron?"

He continued to blush but removed a small badge from his pocket, the words "HEAD BOY" clearly visible.

Hermione squealed before wrapping him in a big hug and planting a kiss on his cheek increasing his blush till his face matched his hair. "Oh Ron I'm so proud of you. This is wonderful. I knew you could do it. This is great! Two Gryffindor Heads and just think of all the studying we'll be able to do since we both can get into the Restricted Section." It was quite comical to the others present as they watched Ron blush from the kiss, and pale at the thought of extra work both at the same time. He still seemed to be in shock as Hermione pulled him out of the compartment so happy that she was skipping as told him of all the plans for studying she had.

"I suppose I should follow them then shouldn't I?" Luna said as she dreamily got to her feet before exiting the compartment to head towards the prefect compartment. Ginny smiled at her friends exit and she was glad her friend had been made prefect last year. She was equally glad that she hadn't. Her mother had been disappointed in her but the twins, Fred and George, had been ecstatic that they there was another Weasley to follow them in the proud tradition of rule breaking. Ginny agreed with them as she had no desire to go around taking points and enforcing rules on others. 'Besides, why do I need to be a prefect when I have the two Heads on my side' she thought to herself.

She and Neville spent the next few hours chatting about the coming year and snacking on treats from the food cart before Neville excused himself to find Luna who at this point would probably be patrolling the train with the rest of the prefects.

Ginny was left alone but she didn't really mind that much. She was surprised how much more confident Neville had become in the last year. His growth of confidence had begun when Harry started teaching Defense to the DA. After the battle at the Ministry he had to get a new wand instead of his father's which he had used before. The new wand had increased his spell power and success rate which had served to reinforce his newfound faith in his abilities. Since then he had become a much stronger individual and after many months of worrying had mustered up the courage to ask Luna out on a date at Hogsmeade. Ginny smiled fondly about how happy her friends were together now. She just wished that she could have the same thing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the compartment door sliding open to reveal non other then the Slytherin Prince, Draco Malfoy, accompanied by his two goons Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well if isn't the youngest of the Weasels. All by yourself are you?" he drawled. He then began to leer at her as he let his eyes stray over her body. "I suppose I could keep you company if you want. I'm sure we could find something...fun to do." He smirked.

Ginny had a hard time restraining herself from throwing up as she thought of Malfoy doing anything to "keep her company" and the look of disgust she gave him clearly expressed this thought. "I'm quite alright by myself. Why don't you find another compartment and maybe you find something "fun to do" with your two flunkies instead." She looked pointedly at Crabbe and Goyle who were clearly confused at the way the conversation was going.

Draco on the other hand understood immediately. "You better watch yourself Muggle-lover. The worlds changing and you're on the losing side. Potter knew it. That's why he ran away. He knew the Dark Lord would win and like the coward he is he left you all." He now had a smug smile on his face.

"Harry will be back and I hope I'm there to see your face when he wipes the floor with Voldemort and the rest of the scum like your father." Ginny snapped back, pulling her wand from her robes. Most people knew by now that bringing up Harry was a touchy subject with the young witch and if you weren't careful it was likely you could get hexed. The three Slytherins were quick to raise their wands as well and Malfoy gave a chuckle as he spoke, "I'd be careful if I was you. We do outnumber you."

His gloating was interrupted by a voice from outside the compartment.

"Mr. Malfoy, there you are."

A young man perhaps in his mid-twenties came up behind the three Slytherins. He stood tall at about 6'4" with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. 'He looks good' Ginny thought to herself.

"Mr. Malfoy," he began again. "I believe you're supposed to be patrolling the last section of the train. I just came from there and there are several disputes going on that need a prefects attention. I'd hate to issue a detention because you weren't attending to your duties." He said sternly.

Draco tried to turn on the charm. "Of course professor. I was on my way there when Miss Weasley here started to create a disturbance. I was just trying to do my duty sir."

He didn't seem to buy it and the young man took a look inside the compartment. "She's here by herself and the compartment seems to be in order. I'm puzzled as to what kind of disturbance you could be refereeing too." He shook his head before smiling. "Never mind though. Head to your position and I'll deal with Miss Weasley." He quickly shooed them away and Ginny got a bright smile on her face as she watched Draco scowling as he headed down the train. After they had entered the next section of the train the new professor turned to address Ginny with a smile on his face. "Now I assume you're finished "causing trouble" Miss Weasley?" his tone made it clear he had seen through Malfoy's act.

"Yes sir." Ginny answered with a smile of her own. There was something about this professor that made her feel safe and happy.

"Well in that case. I shall return to my own duties. Enjoy the rest of the ride." He began to leave but stopped as Ginny spoke up. "Professor...?"

"Orion, Professor Orion." He politely answered.

"Thank you Professor Orion. What subject are you teaching?"

He gave her a mischievous smile and his eyes sparkled brightly. "You'll just have to wait and see won't you. See you in class." With that he left the compartment leaving her alone with her thoughts once more.

* * *

The rest of the train ride passed uneventfully and before long she was entering the Great Hall after having grabbed a carriage with some of her friends from her year. She headed over to the Gryffindor table and found a seat with her brother and Hermione. Ron was examining the teachers table carefully.

"Do either of you know who that is sitting beside Tonks?" he asked. Tonks had managed to survive the curse of the Defense teacher and was back for her second year as the DADA teacher. Her Metamorphmagus abilities had made her quite popular and the male population of the school was especially fond of her.

Ginny took a look towards the staff table noticed the young professor who had helped her on the train earlier. She quickly filled Ron and Hermione in on what had happened.

Hermione was looking at him appreciatively. "He's certainly good looking isn't he?" she began to blush as she realized what she'd said.

Ginny looked around and saw that a good number of the girls seemed to be thinking the same thing as they gazed at the new professor. He seemed oblivious and was in the midst of an animated discussion with Tonks.

"He sure is." Ginny agreed.

After hearing Hermione's comment Ron had flushed slightly and was glaring at the staff table in anger. "He doesn't look that great to me. He's probably another Lockhart who thinks that he's gorgeous. I can't believe Dumbledore would hire another git like that."

"Don't be silly Ron." Hermione said. "From what Ginny said it sounds like he's quite nice. I wonder what he's teaching though. All the teacher's from last year are still here." Her eyes widened in excitement. "Do you think he's teaching a new subject?" Ron just grumbled under breath to Ginny's amusement and Hermione could barely contain her excitement throughout the sorting.

When all of the first years had finally been sorted Dumbledore rose to his feet. "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. While I do have some very exciting announcements for you I believe that for my own safety I should let you all eat first. So without further ado...Let the Feast begin!" Foods of all kind quickly appeared on the table and the students and staff alike quickly began filling their plates.

Ginny took this opportunity to study the new professor a little but more. She remembered her first year where the incompetent DADA teach Gilderoy Lockhart was exposed as a fraud but as she watched him she saw very little in common between Professor Lockhart and Orion. She was shocked as he looked up from his plate and caught her eye. He gave a little smile at having caught her observing him and gave her a smile wave. Ginny blushed slightly and returned to her food unaware of the jealous glares she was receiving from some of the girls at the other tables.

"What did you say his name was again?" Hermione asked.

"Orion. He wouldn't tell me what he was teaching though."

Hermoine's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "I think I've heard of him before. I just can't remember where."

"Probably Witch-Weekly." Ron grumbled. "Arrogant sod."

"RON!" Hermione exclaimed giving him a glare. "You haven't even met him yet."

Ron only gave a grunt in response and Ginny glanced up towards the staff table to see Professor Orion watching the three of them with an amused smile on his face.

As the meal came to an end all the dishes disappeared from the table and Dumbledore rose to his feet once more. "Now that our stomachs are all nicely filled with food I'll get to our start of term announcements. I will remind everyone yet again that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to all students unless accompanied by a teacher. Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to inform you all that the list of items prohibited from the school has now reached one thousand five hundred thanks to the many Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes which are banned." Ginny smiled knowing how happy her brothers would be at the news. "I must also remind you that magic is prohibited from being used in the corridors. Now I would like to welcome back Professor Tonks who has managed to break the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and has returned to us for a second year." Tonks rose and gave a quick wave while the students, especially the males, applauded for her loudly. Dumbledore gave her a smile before continuing. "I also have the pleasure of introducing a new subject to Hogwarts this year." Hermione was on the edge of her seat in anticipation. "For the first time Hogwarts will be teaching the subject of Advanced Magic. Many of the skills learnt in this class are those that only a few members of the wizarding community possess. This class will be open to six and seventh year students. To gain admission to this class you must have your Head of Houses support. I encourage you not to apply unless you have been achieving high marks in your classes for as they title of the class says the subject matter will be highly advanced. Even if you gain entrance to the class it is possible that some of the subject studies will be beyond your abilities so think very carefully before applying." Hermione was now almost drooling in excitement at the thought of all that she could learn. Ginny also thought it sounded interesting and planned on trying for it. Dumbledore continued. "Teaching this class will be Professor Orion." Professor Orion rose to his feet to take a small bow. He smiled at the huge round of applause he was receiving from the students. "That is all the announcements for tonight so prefects. I'll leave it to you to escort the students to bed. Sleep pleasant dreams."

Hermione was hopping up and down in excitement as they made their way to Gryffindor tower. As they entered the Common Room she pulled Ginny and Ron over to the couch in front of the fire and sat them down.

"I remember where I've heard of Professor Orion before." She said with excitement.

Ron didn't look terribly interested but Ginny wanted to learn more about him and nodded for Hermione to continue.

"He's really fascinating. He's only 26 years old yet is widely acknowledged as one of the smartest wizards in the world. His theories on magic and its limits are very progressive and its said that he doesn't even need to use a wand for his spells. That's probably one of the subjects we'll be learning, Wandless magic."

Ron was now looking mildly interested. "Well how did someone so young learn all of this?" he asked unable to hide the dislike he felt for this new teacher.

Hermione glared at him. "I told you. He's a genius. No one knows where he went to school but about five years ago he seemed to appear out of nowhere. He's written three books already and they all are on the Best Seller list for magical theory. Do you realize how lucky we are to have him teaching?"

Ginny had a thought of her own. "Do you think he an Order Member?" The three of them were still not allowed to attend Order meetings so had very little idea as to what was going on.

Hermione looked thoughtful. "It's possible. If he was joining the Order it would be a great boon for our side. He knows so much and is a very powerful wizard."

"Great." Ron grumbled once more. "A Lockhart with the brains of Hermione. Bloody wonderful."

Hermione was getting very frustrated. "What's your problem Ron! He looks like he'll be a great teacher. I don't see why you don't like him so much."

"And I don't see why you're practically in love with him." Ron retorted. "We don't know anything about him. You said it yourself he appeared out of nowhere. He could be a Death Eater."

Hermione was shocked. "A Death Eater? That's ridiculous."

"Whatever. I don't like him and I don't trust him." And with that Ron stormed away up to the boys rooms.

Ginny had just been sitting there in open-mouthed shock as her brother made a royal prat of himself. She knew Ron was upset because Hermione had said that Professor Orion was good looking. She just hadn't realized how much it had bothered him.

"Now what was that all about?" Hermione asked. Without waiting for an answer she turned and stormed up to the girls rooms leaving Ginny alone on the couch wondering how on earth she was going to put up with two people who were so thick. She shook her head ruefully and then followed Hermione up to bed.

* * *

Miles away, just outside of a small village, Harry Potter watched as 15 wizards in black robes wearing white masks apparated into the village square. They then began to separate and approach the different houses. With a deep breath Harry, and keeping to the shadows, silently wished that he was at Hogwarts, sitting and talking with friends.

"Well," he said to himself, "let's get this over with." Harry began firing spells as he ran to attack the Death Eaters.

* * *

**A/N:** That's it for another chapter. So what did you think? Be honest. Who thought that Harry was going to be the new teacher? You all did didn't you? Please note that Orion popped up five years ago. Not one year ago when Harry ran away.

Response time:

**Lady of Masobelle:** Sorry that I left you hanging. I just love the cliffies though. My fics are my chance to get back everyone who left cliffies in their stories. Hope you don't mind it too much. As to Ginny figuring out that Harry is teaching...who said Harry was teaching? :)

**Medicated Drama Queen:** Snape will start to grow up a little and stop letting grudges get in the way. Now that he has been exposed as a spy he will be forced to contribute in other ways. He'll also get plenty of opportunities to work with Harry.

**Gryphon's wing:** As I said above Snape will get an attitude adjustment and I won't be letting him get hurt...yet. Sorry that you don't like H/G. I think it's the best ship so I'm usually more prone to writing it. Hope you enjoy anyways.

**Emma-Lizzy-Black:** Thanks for your loyal support :)

**Silver Warrior:** Harry's rapid growth in power will be explained later on. In short, he found someone powerful to train him and got better. Any guesses on who trained him?

**Potter Reader: **Hope this is a fast enough update for you. Sorry but you're going to have to wait a while to find out about the training.

**Wolfmoon:** I love how everyone assumed Harry would be teaching. My summary never said Harry would be teaching only that there would be a teacher who more about the gang then he should. You'll have to wait to find out what Dumbledore asked Harry to do.

**Pheonix Friend:** As far as I know it never says the twins sent the singing valentine. The way I say it though, comparing Harry's eyes to a toad and all the rest seems much more like a twin thing to do as opposed to an 11 year old who can't even manage to say a single word to him. Ginny in first year just seems to shy to have written something like that.

**Aiza.Braelyn:** I'm glad my story was good enough to review if it was your first time. You weren't rude at all. My update time varies but if it's ever more then two weeks I start feeling guilty and usually rush to get one out. Hermione and Ron won't find out Harry's back for awhile. When they do they'll be mad for a little while but they'll get over it quickly.

**Kraeg001: **I aim to please.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed. Your reviews are what make me write. The reason this chapter came out quickly was because I couldn't wait to introduce the new teacher. I thought it was great that you all assumed it would be Harry. Hope you all enjoyed and please review this chapter too.

Next chapter: Classes start, Weasley vs Malfoy, and more of the mysterious Orion.


	4. Detention and Discussions

**Disclaimer: **You all know the drill by now. This stuff isn't mine and I'm not pretending it is.

**Chapter 3 –Detention and Discussions**

Ginny was awoken in the morning by the bright rays of the sun. Cursing herself for not having closed the curtains around her bed, she reluctantly admitted to herself that she was now awake and might as well get up. As they had arrived at school on a Friday there would be no classes for the next two days and all of Ginny's year mates were taking the opportunity to sleep in.

"Wish I could have done that." She grumbled to herself as she went to the bathroom for her shower.

After allowing her self a luxuriously long shower she got out feeling refreshed and ready to face the day and she decided that maybe getting up before every one else was okay if it meant more long hot showers.

'Since I'm up before everyone else maybe now would be a good time to go for a fly' Ginny was looking forward to the opportunity to get some time on her broom just for herself. Since Ron had been named Quidditch captain last year he had gone crazy and had driven the team to exhaustion after every practice. It had become extremely rare for her to have the opportunity to fly just for the sake of flying.

As she soared through the air on her broomstick she found herself wishing yet again that Harry was back at school. Harry had been banned from playing Quidditch in her fourth year and while she had taken his place for the duration of the ban, everyone knew that he was the better Seeker. 'Besides, I never even wanted to be Seeker. He was supposed to come back and take his place again.' She thought to herself. Ginny had always seen herself playing the Chaser position but with Harry gone and no one else in Gryffindor even close to being good enough, she was stuck for it. Ginny was a good Seeker and had managed to catch the Snitch in all of her games last year giving the Gryffindor's the Cup but it just wasn't the spot where she was happiest.

Her gloomy thoughts quickly stole away the joy of flying and she decided to return to the castle for some breakfast. As she entered the Great Hall she shook her head in frustration as she took in the scene before her. It appeared that Ron and Hermione's argument from the night before had not been solved in any way. While they were sitting in their places as usual, each was ignoring the other. They acknowledged each others presence only to shoot stormy glares back and forth. As she went to join them, Ginny prayed that maybe this time they wouldn't try and suck her into their argument.

"Ginny." Hermione gave her friend a bright smile. "It's so nice to finally have some decent company at breakfast."

'Oh well, So much for that idea.' Ginny cringed inwardly. 'And now for the response...'

Ron didn't let her down. "Excuse me for not talking about books or cute teachers all the time. Some people are suspicious of strange wizards coming out of nowhere."

"What's so suspicious?" Hermione was now completely ignoring Ginny as she focused all her energy on arguing, "Oh no! Dumbledore's hired a teacher. He must be evil. Honestly Ron, stop being such a prat!"

Ginny quickly began to ignore their ongoing argument and focused on her breakfast.

"Wow. First morning back and already they're fighting. This must be a new record even for them." Ginny smiled at Neville who had just taken a seat beside her. "So," He asked, "What is Gryffindor's resident old married couple fighting about this time?"

"Oh nothing earth shattering. Hermione said Professor Orion was cute and now Ron's jealous. He's spouting nonsense about him being a Death Eater and Hermione, not realizing Ron's real problem with him just keep's saying he's acting stupidly."

"So, same old stuff then?" Neville chuckled.

"Basically, so, what do you think about Professor Orion? Do you fancy trying out for his class?" Ginny was planning on finding Professor McGonagall after breakfast and was hoping that someone besides Hermione would be doing it as well. It wasn't that she didn't love Hermione like a sister... It was just that sometimes, like right now, she could be a bit much to take.

"I think I'll give it a try. I mean, I know I'm not the best at magic," while Neville had been making big improvements in the confidence department, every now and then he began to backslide. "But I bet we'll be learning really useful things. With You-Know-Who out there every little bit counts."

Ginny nodded in agreement while swallowing another bite of food. "That's what I was thinking to. Hermione also says that this guy is really smart and uses Wand-less magic. I'm going to see McGonagall after breakfast. Want to come with me?"

"Might as well. Luna's already talked to Flitwick and she's got his recommendation." Neville smiled and glanced over at his girlfriend sitting at the Ravenclaw table.

"You two are really good together." Ginny said and she smiled at the blush making its way onto Neville's face.

"Yeah, she's great." He agreed.

"RONALD WEASLEY, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU'VE DECIDED TO GROW UP!" Apparently Ron and Hermione's squabble had reached critical mass. Hermione shot from her seat and began to storm away.

"YEAH? WELL DON'T EXPECT THAT TO HAPPEN ANY TIME SOON!" Ron retorted. All the students in the Hall began to laugh at his statement and as he realized how he must have sounded Ron began cursing vehemently under his breath.

He would have continued cursing himself and crazy women everywhere for much longer except he was interrupted by an all too familiar drawl. "What's wrong Weasel? Can't keep your Mudblood girlfriend happy? Don't really know why you'd make the effort in the first place but perhaps for someone of your social standing she's the best you can do."

Ron's face, already red from embarrassment, was starting to turn a brilliant shade of purple as Malfoy's taunts continued. "Maybe if your family pooled their life savings you could get the little Weaselette over there some decent robes. Then I might lower myself to letting her be seen with me. Wouldn't that be nice Weasel? Someone in your family would finally have a little bit of class."

Ginny had been prepared to defend her own reputation but stopped when she heard a deep roar of anger coming from her brother. Apparently without Hermione to calm him down or Harry to restrain him he had decided to completely skip the stages of hurling insults back or drawing his wand. Instead, Ron had jumped up from his seat and leapt at Malfoy. Taken completely by surprise, all Malfoy could do was stand there looking slightly pale as 175 pounds of red-haired fury smashed into him sending him flying towards the ground. Before anyone thought to interfere Ron had already landed two very solid punches to Malfoy's face and blood was starting to come out of his nose.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" these words managed to break through Ron's rage and he stopped in mid punch. He looked around and it seemed like he hadn't recognized that he had begun his Malfoy bashing session with a full audience of both teachers and students. Professor Orion's yell and the glare on his face as he stormed over towards them seemed to be enough for him to realize this fact.

Ginny watched as Orion came to a stop and, standing over Ron and Draco, spoke in a deceptively quite voice. "What do you think you're doing Mr. Weasley?" Everyone took a step back as they recognized the barely restrained anger in Orion's face. Ginny however, thought that she detected a glint of amusement and satisfaction in his eyes. It disappeared so quickly to be replaced by a look of apparent disappointment that later she wasn't sure if she had actually seen it.

Ron, noticing that his position looked somewhat incriminating, quickly got off of Malfoy and hid his blood spattered fists behind his back. He appeared to be racking his brains for some kind of excuse. Given the circumstances it's understandable that he was unable to think of one.

"Well? I'm waiting."

Malfoy had managed to come to a semi-sitting position and was looking on smugly. Well, as smugly as one could look on with a broken nose.

Ron soon realized he wasn't going to be able to get out of this. "He was insulting my friends and my family sir." He stood up slightly straighter as he spoke.

Orion raised an eyebrow. "And you felt these insults warranted an attempt at rearranging the structure of Mr. Malfoy's face?" Ginny was sure this time that there was a definite sparkle of amusement in the professor's eyes.

Professor Snape had made his way to his student and was checking Malfoy for any other signs of damage. "Well, Mr. Weasley. I hope it was worth the months you'll be spending in detention." He sneered.

Professor Orion quickly spoke up. "I hardly think that will be necessary. I was first on the scene so I'll hand out the punishments."

Snape didn't seem to care for this idea and was going to protest before he was cut off.

"Let's make it 10 points from Slytherin for unworthy insults," Ron smiled and both Malfoy and Snape scowled. "and 25 points from Gryffindor and a detention tonight with me for Mr. Weasley."

All the liking Ron had developed for this new teacher at the loss of Slytherin points was quickly replaced by anger and dislike once more. "But he-"

"That will be all Mr. Weasley." Orion cut him off. "You should be happy it's not more. I'll see you at my office tonight at 8:00pm. Mr. Malfoy, I would recommend you make your way to the hospital wing and let Madame Pomfrey take a look at you." He looked around at all the students who were gawking at them. "I'm sure you all have somewhere else you could be right now." He said with a slightly raised eyebrow which sent all the students scurrying away. Ron stormed away Malfoy limped off to the Hospital wing flanked by his ineffective bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seemed to be in the middle of berating them for their poor job at protecting him. Neville left the table with a quick goodbye to Ginny as she turned to finish her breakfast while keeping her ears tuned to the conversation going between the two professors behind her.

"I'm surprised, Orion. I had you pegged as a Gryffindor and thought you'd be more lenient towards Weasley." Snape sneered.

Professor Orion sniffed disdainfully. "I don't treat students differently based on house. Besides, Mr. Weasley needs to work on his temper. I should be able to sort it out in detention."

Snape gave a mocking laugh. "Ha! Mr. Weasley is renowned for his quick temper. He also doesn't seem to care for you very much. I hardly think you'll be able to make much difference in him."

A mischievous sparkle found its way into Orion's eye. Ginny thought it made him look even more attractive than usual. "What say we make it interesting then. I'll bet you that after tonight's detention Mr. Malfoy will be able to insult Mr. Weasley as much as he wants and Mr. Weasley will retain control of his temper."

Ginny cringed. He was setting himself up for disaster. She had lived with Ron almost her whole life and his inability to control his temper was one of his most defining qualities.

Snape smiled evilly, "And the stakes?"

"The winner gets to choose a task that the loser must complete. Nothing illegal or to evil of course..." Orion's smile was very wide as he watched the Potions Master working over the idea.

Snape nodded his head in agreement, "Very well. When you lose you'll be Trelawny's escort to all events at Hogwarts this year." The evil smile was back.

Orion paled slightly, "Didn't I say 'nothing evil'?"

Ginny was shocked to hear Snape let out a genuine laugh. "You'd best hope your ability to get through to thick headed Gryffindors is as good as you think it is then."

His laughter cut off quickly with a gasp and she turned to see Snape looking quite pale and clutching his left forearm tightly.

Orion appeared concerned. "So, it's getting worse then?"

Snape nodded. "Ever since I stopped answering his summons I feel like each time he calls I'm drained of a little more energy. I think the bastard set some sort of trap into the Mark to drain disloyal Death Eaters."

Orion appeared pensive. "So it would be best if we removed it, correct?"

Snape looked up at him angrily. "Well thank you ever so much. Remove it? Why didn't I think of that?" He spat out. "You can't remove it. It's permanent."

Orion gave a mock bow. "Ahh, but you forget who you're speaking too. I've been mulling over an idea for the last couple of weeks. Give me a bit longer and I think I may be able to think of a way for it to be removed."

Snape didn't look impressed. "Yes, well pardon me if I don't hold my breath. Now if you'll excuse me. I have some potions brewing that I must tend to." He turned and began to leave the Great Hall.

"Yes, of course. Take care Severus." Orion called after him. After Snape had left the Hall, Orion turned to face Ginny with a slight smile on his face.

"Have you heard everything you needed too Miss Weasley?" his eyes sparkled even more as he watched her blush.

"I'm sorry Professor. I couldn't help but overhear."

"Never mind. Please remind your brother about his detention and also, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from telling him about my little wager. I'd hate for him to lose his temper on purpose just to spite me."

Ginny laughed lightly. "Of course sir." She paused a moment before asking the question on her mind. "Professor, do you think you really can remove the Dark Mark?"

"I never said I would be the one to remove it. I think I know how it could be done though." His expression turned somewhat distant as he seemed to contemplating something. Shaking his head as though to clear his thoughts, he flashed Ginny a smile, "I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'm afraid that I must excuse myself for now though. I hope you're planning on signing up for my class. I think it would be good for both you and your brother."

Ginny was glad he thought she was up to it. "I was planning on signing up. I don't know about Ron though." She hesitated before continuing. "He...he doesn't really want to take more classes."

Orion gave a slight laugh. "You mean he doesn't want me teaching him. Well it looks like I'll have lots to discuss with him tonight then. I think I'm rather looking forward to it actually. I'll see you later then." With a wink he turned and began whistling to himself as he left the Great Hall.

'Well, he's an interesting one isn't he?' Ginny thought to herself.

* * *

Ron was fuming as he made his way towards the Professor's office at five to eight.

"Stupid git of a teacher," He mumbled to himself.

Ron's day has not gone very well after his ordeal at breakfast. He had gotten into another argument with Hermione when Seamus interrupted their conversation by congratulating him on breaking Malfoy's nose. As Hermione had up to that point been unaware of the fight and his subsequent detention this had come as quite a shock to her. She proceeded to give a very impassioned speech about how immature he was and how as Head Boy he should be setting an example for the other students, not "rolling around on the ground fighting like a Neanderthal". Ron had tried to point out that he was standing up for her and his sister. That excuse hadn't really been terribly effective. 'And now after a fun filled day of fighting verbally and physically, I have to go spend a Saturday night in detention with Professor I'm-so-smart-and-good-looking. Bloody wonderful,' He finished his thought just as he arrived at Professor Orion's office. He was about to knock on the door when he heard a voice from inside.

"Come in Mr. Weasley."

Ron opened the door and was greeted to a very organized looking office. The walls were lined with bookshelves which housed what looked to be a number of rare books on magical theory and advanced magic. Sitting at his desk with a chess board in front of him sat Professor Orion.

"Have a seat Mr. Weasley." He said with a smile while motioning to the chair on the other side of his desk. Ron took a seat and gave the Professor a confused look.

"Black or White?" Orion asked.

"What?" Perhaps not the most articulate thing he could have said, but Ron believed that he had gotten his point across.

Orion sighed. "Would you like to play the Black or the White pieces?" he watched as Ron still hesitated. "It's chess. You do know how to play don't you?"

This snapped Ron out of his confused stupor. "I'll be White." He said.

"Excellent. It's your move then."

Ron found himself having a hard time concentrating on the game. 'What's this guy doing? Why are we playing chess during detention?' Orion seemed perfectly content not to say anything and just continued playing. After about ten minutes Ron had check-mated the Professor who was looking slightly resigned.

"I guess you do know what you're doing. Another game?" he asked.

Ron simply nodded. Still too confused as to what was going on to frame any other response. As they began their second game Ron finally managed to organize his thoughts enough to ask what was going on.

"Professor..."

"Just Orion. When I'm not in class or around lots of students the whole "Professor" thing just makes me feel old. Most of the other professors here are old enough to be my parents and it feels a little odd to be slotted in with them."

This managed to earn a slight smile from the young Weasley.

"Alright then Orion, what exactly are we doing?"

Orion arched one eyebrow. "We're playing chess. Honestly, I'm starting to wonder how I lost when you don't even seem to realize what game we're playing."

Ron flushed slightly. "I mean why are we playing chess during my detention?"

"Would you rather polish trophies or wash cauldrons?" Orion laughed.

Ron shook his head.

"We're playing chess because I consider playing chess an excellent atmosphere for intelligent conversations and I think that you and I have some things we should discuss." He arched that damned eyebrow again, "If that's alright with you of course."

Ron nodded.

"Excellent. Why don't we start with your punishment? You no doubt feel it was unfair of me to punish you more than Mr. Malfoy when you had clearly been provoked. Would I be correct in assuming that?"

Another nod.

"I thought so." Orion looked up from the board. "Ron, may I call you Ron?"

Another nod.

"Ron, what's written on that badge you're wearing?" he asked.

"It's my Head Boy badge."

"Yes it is. That badge is more than just the prestige of having power and being in charge of other students. It is a sign of responsibility and a symbol of the trust the teaching staff have put in you. You have been entrusted with the responsibility of being a leader for the students, to set an example for them to follow. By striking at Mr. Malfoy you are giving the message that violence the proper solution. You are expected to know this, so when you failed to live up to this expectation you were penalized more than Mr. Malfoy. Basically, we expect more from you because you are more capable than he is."

Ron smiled at that.

"It's true. You are more capable than him. Now remember, as Head Boy, you have the authority to remove points and assign detentions to students. Why then didn't you use this power instead of your fists?"

Ron seemed shocked. It honestly hadn't occurred to him to remove points.

Orion considered. "Now which of these scenarios do you think would be more satisfying to Mr. Malfoy: 1) you punch him and Gryffindor loses points. 2) You remove points from Slytherin for insults and continue to do so until he stops."

"The second one." Ron sheepishly replied.

"Exactly. If every time he insults you, you remove points then it won't be long till he either stops or puts Slytherin so far in the hole that his housemates silence him for you. Doesn't that sound better than losing points and winding up in detention?"

"Yeah. It's just that when he insults me I get so mad and can't help but want to hit him." Ron had begun to clench his fists.

"You hate Mr. Malfoy don't you Ron?" Orion moved another chess piece as they continued to talk.

"Very much." Ron spat out through clenched teeth.

"You shouldn't, you know. If anything, you should pity him."

"What?" Ron didn't seem to like the idea of pitying Malfoy at all.

"Tell me Ron, why is it that Mr. Malfoy insults you?" seeing Ron's expression he quickly continued, "Aside from the fact that he's a stupid git."

Ron smiled as the professor seemed to read his mind. He shrugged his shoulders, unable to come up with another reason.

"It's because he's jealous of you. You have everything that he wants. You're a strong wizard, pure blooded like him. You get decent marks and have lots of friends. Both teachers and students respect you and this respect is shown in the powerful position you have been given. You have a power over others that Mr. Malfoy desperately wants. You have a family who loves and cares for you and friends who will stick up for you out of loyalty and not fear. Malfoy insults your family's lack of money because that's all he _can_ insult you about. In every other way, you are his better. He hates that. It's the same with Miss Granger. He's jealous of her and the only thing he can insult her about is that she's muggleborn. It's hardly a real deficiency but it's all he can come up with. Now do you see why I say you should pity him?"

Ron just sat there completely shocked. He didn't know what to say. The more he thought about it though the more it made sense. He was shaken out of his contemplation by something else quite shocking.

"Check mate." Orion said, a very satisfied smile coming onto his face. "Looks like all I have to do to beat you is talk you to distraction."

Ron just stared at the board trying to figure out how he'd lost. "But I never lose."

This caused Orion to start to laugh and he continued to laugh as he stood up looking at the clock.

"Perhaps you'll have better luck next time. For now I think it best that you return to Gryffindor tower."

Ron smiled. "So maybe I can get a rematch later?"

"Of course, you don't need to get detention though. In fact, I would be eternally grateful if you could manage to control your temper from now on. Remember, knock points, not teeth."

Ron chuckled. "Yes sir."

Orion gave him a friendly smile, "Very good then. And if you ever find yourself losing your temper with him again, use this to distract yourself." He handed Ron a small white envelope. "Wait until you get to the tower before opening it." He said with a smile.

Ron simply accepted the envelope and left the room with a smile.

He returned to Gryffindor tower and was greeted by Hermione and Ginny who were waiting for him in front of the fireplace. He happily walked over to them and took a seat on one of the couches.

"So," he said with a smile. "You guys looking forward to Professor Orion's class? I reckon I'll sign up for it. Looks like we could learn a lot from him."

His comment was met with one shocked gasp and one amused look.

"What happened to him being a Death Eater in disguise?" Hermione managed to sputter out.

Ron looked at her as though she were crazy, "Are you serious Mione? A Death Eater? Where on earth would you get an idea like that? Seems like a perfectly decent fellow to me. Besides, why would Dumbledore hire another Death Eater? Doesn't make a lot of sense does it?"

Hermione just sat there gawping as she tried to take in his sudden reversal of opinion. Ginny chuckled, "So, good detention then?"

Ron smiled at his sister, "Wasn't too bad. Just reminded me I had other options besides resorting to fists."

Ginny smiled. "What's that?" she was pointing to the envelope.

Ron shrugged. "I don't know yet. Professor Orion said that it would help me keep my cool in dealing with Malfoy." As he spoke he opened up the envelope and pulled out what looked to be a chocolate frog card. Ginny and Hermione watched as his face began to twitch before he completely lost control and fell down on the floor laughing. The girls quickly joined him in his laughter as they got a look at the card. The card sported a picture of an albino ferret bouncing up and down all over the card. Underneath was the caption, _Orion productions presents the limited edition Furry Friends card. Introducing Draco: The Amazing Bouncing Ferret_

* * *

The next morning two staff members were seated beside each other watching silently as Draco Malfoy approached the Gryffindor table. They watched in silence as the Slytherin made mocking comments about Ron's detention. They watched in silence as he insulted Ron's family and Hermione. They watched in silence as Draco promised Ron an agonizing death when the Dark Lord took the school. Their silence was broken by a groan from Snape when instead of punching the offending youngster Ron removed 20 points from Slytherin as he tried not to laugh in his face.

"How did you do it?" Snape groaned.

Orion blew on his fingers and began polishing them on his robes. "Simply explained to him how things were and gave him something to help him along. I expect we'll be hearing a lot less from Mr. Malfoy this year. Either that or Minerva will be teasing you relentlessly as you'll claim last place in the House Cup."

Snape shot him a glare, "Very funny. Fine then, you win. What do I have to do?"

Orion now gave Snape an evil smile of his own.

"Remember, nothing to evil." Snape said nervously.

"Oh don't worry. I have just the thing."

* * *

Monday quickly came around and the Gryffindor seventh year student's first class of the day was Potions with the Slytherins.

"Can anyone tell me why you never add dragon scales to a cooling potion?" Snape asked the class.

Hermione raised her hand. Despite the fact that she was never called upon Hermione held onto the hope that she would be able to use her intelligence to answer questions and earn Gryffindor some points.

"Yes Miss Granger?" Snape picked her. He seemed to be forcing a smile onto his face.

"Dragon scales are known for their ability to increase the amount of heat in a potion. Adding them to a cooling potion would decrease its effectiveness."

Snape clenched his teeth, "Very good. 10 points to Gryffindor."

The whole class was stunned. Snape had just given Gryffindor 10 points. Snape never gave them points for anything. In fact, in seven years of classes with him no house other then Slytherin had ever managed to get more then five points at a time.

"What are you doing Professor?" Malfoy squawked.

"Silence Mr. Malfoy, No talking unless you're chosen. 10 points from Slytherin."

Shocked silence once more. After a moment Neville Longbottom spoke up. "Are you feeling alright Professor?"

Again the forced smile, "I'm feeling perfectly fine Mr. Longbottom. 10 points to Gryffindor for showing concern for your teachers well being.

One Slytherin girl fainted with a shriek.

"5 points from Slytherin for disturbing the class. Now everyone get to work on your potions. The instructions are written on the board."

Snape turned away from the class and returned to his desk.

'Not too evil he says.' Snape thought to himself. 'Oh he'll pay for this.'

**A/N:** There's another chapter folks. Hope you all enjoyed it. I meant to put more into this chapter but I made some changes and took out a couple of ideas. They've been moved to later chapters.

**Response time:**

**Wolfmoon: **Harry will be around throughout the year. He'll be seen at Hogwarts from time to time but I can't really tell you more then that. I can tell you that he'll be trying to bury the hatchet with Snape. The two of them will be working together often and will manage to build a good working relationship.

**Post-Scriptum:** Ummmm...it'll be a while.

**Emma-Lizzy-Black:** Would you like to share with the rest of the class?

**Lioma Darksong:** Thanks for the kind words. I don't mind getting constructive criticism but I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. As to Orion having trained Harry? More will be revealed next chapter.

**Wytail:** See above. More revealed soon.

**KrayzeeGlow88: **LOL! I try and update as quickly as possible though I can't update on command. I'm working on it though.

**QueenWeasel:** Orion is Harry using polyjuice? Who knows? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

**Thehoodedsweatshirt:** Snape has always been teaching and won't be leaving that job now that he isn't a spy anymore. Wormtail's situation will be explained in a chapter or two as will any relationship between Orion and Harry. Dumbledore's plan will remain a secret for a while. Sorry but I have to keep some secrets.

**Lady of Masobelle:** Glad your enjoying the story so much. I'm trying hard to keep everyone in character but Snape will probably be a little OOC as he's gonna loosen up a little more as you can see in this chapter. As to Harry's training, he didn't really do any super physical training. He got into shape but isn't a martial artist or sword fighter. When he threw the dagger at Snape he was accurate because he used magic to cheat. I'm sure you're as ashamed of Harry as I am for using magic to direct it but give him a break. He was only training for a year.

**HarryFoureyes:** I must say I quite enjoy your theory. I may just use it later. While it was quite humorous I'm afraid that Harry hasn't been doing any time-traveling. Sorry.

**Medicated Drama Queen:** Yes, being Head Boy with Hermione as Head Girl would be enough punishment for anyone. While Ron will still make an idiot of himself from time to time I'm going to refrain from the amount of Ron bashing that might otherwise be present. It doesn't fit into the story well if I keep making him look bad.

**Hpfanchrissy1502:** Are they the same person? That seems to be the big question. We have theories ranging from time-travel to polyjuice going around. At this point I'm the only one who knows for sure. I intend to keep it that way too. ;)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys have given me so much energy and enthusiasm for writing this and your support has been wonderful. I'm trying to update more frequently as a way of saying thanks. Hope to hear more theories about Harry and Orion because I find them quite amusing.

Stay tuned next chapter as the new Gryffindor trio meet with the Order and some of the mystery of Orion is revealed. Oh, and Mrs. Weasley is going to be mad (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)


	5. SlipUps, the Order, and Secrets Revealed

**Disclaimer: **You all know the drill by now. This stuff isn't mine and I'm not pretending it is.

**Special A/N: **I'm putting this here to make sure everyone sees it. There is no time-travel in this fic. All you people who think Harry went back in time to become Orion...you're wrong.

**Chapter 4 –Slip-Ups, the Order, and Secrets Revealed**

The school had been abuzz with the rumor that Snape had sniffed one potion to many and had finally gone crazy. Gryffindors were seen dancing through the hallways shouting for joy while Slytherins everywhere were in shock. No one knew what had caused Snape to undergo such a rapid personality shift but most agreed that it was a good thing. The students formerly tormented by Snape felt like they were floating up through the air on wonderfully puffy clouds. This feeling lasted until dinner. It was at this point that Professor Orion rose to announce to the school that "your favorite potions professor has not in fact gone crazy. He just happened to lose a bet with me. Never fear though. He'll be back to normal tomorrow." This announcement brought a sigh of relief from the Slytherin table but resulted in the largest epidemic of headaches Hogwarts had ever seen. Upon realizing that Snape hadn't changed, a popular trend had developed among the members of the three other houses. For the remainder of the meal it was always possible to see at least ten students banging their heads against the table in frustration. Needless to say, the students sustained much more damage than the tables.

School should have returned to normal the next day but for the first week of school it became a common site to see either Snape or Orion in the midst of performing some extremely embarrassing task. The two professors seemed to have developed a rivalry of sorts and were making wagers with each other about anything and everything under the sky. After the first bet however the two professors had decided that there would be some restrictions to the consequences of losing. Much to the dismay of the Gryffindors there would be no repeats of the happenings during that much remembered Potions class. Much to Orion's relief there would also be no further threats of having to escort Trelawny to any social functions. There were still plenty of other things that could be done though. Even the Slytherins had laughed at the sight of their Head of House dressed up as a fluffy pink bunny rabbit. He had tried to very hard to scowl people into silence, but quite often the sight of a scowling fluffy pink bunny merely sent more people into hysterics. Orion had found himself dressed up as a Shakespearean actor as he serenaded Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, during dinner one evening.

Students had begun to race down to breakfast every morning in the hopes that they would be able to witness what they would do next and so it was that Ginny found herself forced to have a cold shower as she had been the last of the sixth-year Gryffindors to get up. After a very short and invigorating shower in water that could only be labeled as freezing, Ginny made her way to the Great Hall and sat in her usual seat across from Hermione and Ron.

"Watch the staff table Ginny. They're waiting for something." Ron was avidly watching Snape and Orion who were in turn staring fixedly at the entrance to the Great Hall.

Ginny chuckled to herself. Ron had done a complete 180 degree turn and was now the foremost supporter of Professor Orion. When he found out that keeping control of his temper had prompted the "24 hours of bliss" as he called it, he strutted around for hours.

Just then, Professor Dumbledore made his entrance to the Great Hall. The three Gryffindors watched as Snape and Orion whispered quietly to each other before Orion turned towards Dumbledore and gave a slight wave of his hand. The bottom of Dumbledore's robes blew up slightly revealing a pair of yellow and green striped socks.

"I WIN AGAIN! I told you he wouldn't wear the red ones." Orion shouted while giving Snape a very satisfied look. Snape was in the process of rolling his eyes while giving the Headmaster a look that said How-could-you-let-me-down-like-this?

"They bet on what pair of socks he would wear?" Hermione seemed extremely offended by this. "Shouldn't they be setting a better example?"

"Who cares? Orion wins again! I wonder what Snape will have to do now." Ron was rubbing his hands together with glee. Hermione answered with a glare which was easily ignored.

"Honestly!" She said her disapproval evident. She then stood up and stormed out of the Hall.

Ron sighed. "Has she been storming off more than usual this year or is it just me?" Ginny gave a small giggle. Shaking his head, Ron stood and began to follow Hermione. "Guess I had better go see if I can calm her down. Let me know if I miss anything, okay?" he called over his shoulder.

Ginny laughed to herself at the antics of her two best friends as she finished her breakfast. Picking up her books she headed towards Professor Orion's office where she would be meeting him momentarily. Since the Advanced Magic class had received so much interest, Orion had announced that not only would each applicant need their Head of House's permission but they would also have to come for a short interview. This interview, it was explained, would give the Professor the chance to see if the student had what it took to succeed in the class and to allow the students a chance to ask any questions they might have. Ron and Hermione, as seventh years, had already had their interviews and had both been accepted into the class. Hermione's interview had lasted for a good hour as she asked question after question regarding the material planned for the course. Ron on the other hand, after a brief discussion, said that he had enjoyed a very exciting chess match and had managed to regain his title as supreme chess master of Hogwarts. Ginny wasn't exactly sure what to expect of her interview but she was definitely looking forward to speaking with the intriguing new teacher.

She finally arrived at his office and gave a knock on the door. She heard a muffled answer from inside and cracked the door open. "Professor? Is that you?"

"Ahh, Miss Weasley. Come in. I'm just getting some papers organized." Orion's voice answered.

She entered the office to see the Professor cramming a stack of papers about her height into a closet. After he finally managed to close the door the cupboard disappeared to be replaced by a bookshelf. As he took his seat behind his desk he graced her with a slightly bemused smile.

"One thing they never tell you before you become a teacher is how much time is spent organizing paperwork and filling out lesson plans." The way he said "paperwork" and "lesson plans" clearly showed that if he had his way all the forms would be thrown into fireplaces and banished into the nether regions of the Floo Network. "Where are my manners though? Please take a seat."

He directed her to the comfy chair across from his desk. "Now Miss Weasley first off, while this is technically being called an interview I don't really have that many questions for you. I already knew before coming that you, your brother, and Miss Granger would likely be students in my class and since arriving I've had no reason to doubt that. So, here's my question...Are you willing to work hard?" He arched an eyebrow at her.

Somewhat confused by his statement she nodded her head. "Of course I am sir."

He gave her a smile. "Excellent. Then there's only one problem I have with you." He began to glare at her and upon seeing her nervousness his face broke into a grin once more. "Please, I beg of you, don't call me sir. Each time I'm called "Sir" or "Professor" I feel like a little part of me dies inside."

He was rewarded with a laugh from Ginny who found herself once more remarking to herself at how safe and comfortable she felt with this Professor. After a few moments spent in laughter Orion and Ginny both managed to calm themselves down.

"Now Ginny," he started. "I suppose it's your turn now. Do you have any questions or concerns about the class?"

Ginny shifted in her seat nervously. After having had her ear talked off by Hermione after her interview Ginny was already well aware of the subject material they'd be covering. She did have one question but it didn't have to do with the class. Perhaps noticing her apprehension Orion motioned for her to ask. Steeling herself with a deep breath she looked into his eyes and took a deep breath before asking, "Professor, why do you get along so well with Professor Snape?"

Orion leaned back in his chair a little, obviously surprised at the question. The familiar smile quickly found its way back on to his face and his eyes sparkled slightly as he answered her. "I must say I'm a little surprised at your question Ginny." It was at this point she noticed that he had stopped referring to her as Miss Weasley. She hadn't really noticed when he had switched but she found it both odd and reassuring at the same time. "I was expecting something about the class itself but I suppose your Gryffindor courage is helping you to ask the question that is on many people's minds." He leaned forward and steepled his fingers. "Severus is a very misunderstood individual." He gave short laugh at her obvious disbelief. "Don't get me wrong. He's one of the grouchiest, greasiest and unfriendly individuals I've ever had the fortune to meet but there are reasons he is the way he is. I find it impossible, knowing all that he goes through, not to admire him somewhat." Ginny was obviously confused. Why was this nice, friendly man standing up for the Monster of Slytherin, The Evil Lord of Potions? It just didn't make sense. Orion continued. "Since arriving at Hogwarts a little over a month ago I've had an opportunity to learn about Severus's past and all that he's gone through. Most of it is private and none of your or my business but knowing some of it makes it very easy to understand why he is so bitter." He paused for a moment to find the right words. "You know that Severus was a Death Eater am I correct?" Ginny nodded. "After joining them of his own free will it didn't take him long before he began to see just how evil Voldemort and the rest truly were. Knowing he had made a mistake in joining them he went to Albus and began to act as a spy through much of the first war. When Voldemort met his end at the hands, or should I say forehead, of the young Mr. Potter, Severus had the misfortune of being arrested. Even though he had been working for the light, providing inside information for months, he was accused and treated like a Death Eater. While Albus vouching for him kept him out of Azkaban he did not receive the recognition he deserved and was looked down upon by many. If that wasn't enough he was forced to continue his image of being Death Eater material as Albus was of the opinion, and rightly so, that Voldemort would be back and the need for a spy would once again be important. He has been forced by circumstances to act like that which he hates the most for almost two decades with only a select few knowing it is an act. Is it really that surprising that the personality he has been using for so many years has rubbed off on him? Since Harry discovered that he had been found out a month ago," Orion continued speaking, not realizing that at his mention of Harry the young girl across from him had stiffened. "Severus finally has the chance to be the person he always could have been. I've been going out of my way to get along with him because I think he deserves a break and is quite clever as well. He put up with me at first because I'm working on a way to remove the Dark Mark from his arm. Lately he seems to have decided that I'm an honorary Slytherin and therefore worth some of his time. I must point out that just because he's getting better doesn't mean he'll be nice to Gryffindors any time soon." He said the last bit with a chuckle. Ginny had not so much as blinked since Harry had been mentioned and Orion seemed to have finally noticed her condition.

"Is there something wrong Ginny?" he asked, he was obviously concerned about her behavior.

When Ginny spoke she was so quiet he had to lean forward to catch her words. "Did you say Harry?" Orion paled and quickly looked away. This seemed to give her confidence. "Have you seen Harry? Do you know where he is? Is he coming back?" The volume of her voice quickly began to rise as did she.

Still refusing to meet her eyes Orion's words came out in a strangled rush. "I believe we've run out of time for our interview Miss Weasley. I'm afraid I've just remembered I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore now. I trust you'll excuse me." And without giving her a chance to respond he seemed to leap of his chair and bolt out of the room.

Ginny dropped back into her seat completely shocked by what she'd just heard. 'Harry's back.' It didn't seem real. After all this time her Harry was finally back. She blushed at her thoughts. 'Well, he's not really **my** Harry.' She thought to herself. 'But if he's back then why hasn't he come to see us? Why hasn't he come to see me?"

After a few minutes the confused and disheartened Gryffindor slowly made her way to her first class of the day leaving the empty office behind her.

* * *

Ginny went through the rest of the day in a daze. She just couldn't stop thinking about Harry. It was lucky for her that the only class she had today was History of Magic where inattentive students were completely normal. It wasn't until dinner that she was finally confronted about the way she was behaving.

"Well Ginny, what do you think?" Hermione asked.

"Huh?" Ginny shook herself out of her daze. Now her only problem was she had no idea what Hermione was asking her about.

"Honestly Ginny. What's the matter with you? You've been out of it since breakfast. What's the matter with you?" Hermione gave her a concerned look.

"Yeah Gin, you haven't even touched your food." Of course it was Ginny's eating habits that would concern her brother. He couldn't understand how anybody could be distracted with food in front of them.

Ginny blushed. "Sorry guys. I guess I've just been a little off today. What were you asking me Hermione?"

Hermione was sounding quite exasperated. "I was asking you why you thought Professor Dumbledore wanted us to come to his office after we finished eating."

"What?" Ginny obviously had missed a lot while she was thinking of Harry.

"He just came by five minutes ago. Weren't you paying attention?"

Ginny smiled shyly. "Ummm, No?"

Hermione just glared at her. "He told us to come to his office and not to tell anyone. He said it was really important. Do you think it could have something to do with the Order?"

"Maybe." But Ginny didn't care about the Order at all. What if he was going to tell them something about Harry?

"I'll bet it is." Ron managed to say, little bits of food spraying out of his mouth at the same time.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Hermione smacked him on the shoulder.

Ron swallowed and looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry."

'That's new.' Ginny thought to herself. Usually when Hermione got on his case with a comment like that it would have started another one of their famous arguments.

Ron continued. "I'll bet the Order is finally going to start giving us more info. I mean Hermione and I are 17 now and you're getting closer Gin."

Hermione was excited. "Do you think so Ron? Maybe we'll be able to find out if there's any news on Harry."

Ginny jumped slightly in her seat. Fortunately the other two hadn't noticed as they quickly got into a debate on the likelihood of finding out about Harry.

"If they knew something they would have told us by now." Ron said

"Well maybe they do know something and they're just trying to keep it secret." Hermione responded.

"Or maybe there just isn't any news. You're aren't always right about everything you know?" Ginny noticed that Ron's face was starting to get red with anger and she felt it was a good time to jump in.

"Ummm guys? It looks like Professor Dumbledore and a bunch of the teacher are leaving now. Maybe we should head over to his office." Hermione and Ron turned their glares from each other towards Ginny before it registered with them what she had said. With one last glare towards Ron, Hermione grabbed her stuff, and Ginny's arm, and started to pull her towards Dumbledore's office. Ginny just shrugged at Ron as she was pulled away. With a last longing glance at his food he too rose and followed after the girls.

It took Ginny a moment to free herself from her friends grasp. Ron was out of hearing range as she turned to Hermione with a smile. "Ron seems to think you've been doing more storming away than usual. Any reason why?"

"Ginny, you know I love your brother but sometimes he's just so infuriating." Hermione growled.

"Oh, believe me, I know." She paused as an evil little smile crossed her face. "So," she started casually. "Just how long have you been in love with my stupid brother?"

Hermione stumbled and as she caught her balance her face was red enough to rival a Weasley's hair. "I-I-I mean I loved him like a brother." She managed to stutter out, still blushing furiously.

Ginny was enjoying herself quite a bit. "Oh don't worry I won't tell him a thing."

Hermione turned to her. "Ginny..."

"Tell him what?" Hermione shut her mouth with a snap as Ron finally caught up to them. Hermione was now looking at Ginny with panic written all over her face.

Ginny smirked to herself. "Oh I was just promising not to tell Professor Orion how silly Hermione thinks he acts."

"Oh. That's it. He's not to bad you know Hermione. He's just trying to have a bit of fun." Ron was still sticking up for anything that had the potential to make Snape look stupid.

Hermione gave Ginny a look thanking her before answering Ron, 'At least Hermione seems to realize she likes Ron,' Ginny thought to herself, 'even if she's not willing to admit it to anyone else.'

They quickly made their way to the gargoyle which led to Dumbledore's office and gave the password they had earlier been told.

"Honey buttons." Hermione said primly and the gargoyle swung open to reveal the stairway leading up.

As they reached the stop of the stairs they were greeted by an open door and an office that had been enlarged to make room for all the Order members they saw before them. Somewhat intimidated at being the only students among the gathering, the three Gryffindors tentatively made their way inside. Letting Hermione and Ron lead the way in, Ginny took the opportunity to see who was present. It was obvious that the feelings of those present were mixed as to whether or not there should be students at the meeting. Snape's disapproval was obvious as was Mrs. Weasley's concerned frown. Dumbledore led a number of the Order members in greeting the students with a friendly smile. The only person showing no reaction at all to the students entry was Professor Orion who was sitting by himself at the end of a long table with three empty chairs beside him. It almost seemed like Orion was afraid to look at Ginny. Afraid that in doing so he might let something slip out again.

"Now that our youngest prospective members have joined us, we can get started. Would the three of you care to have a seat with Professor Orion?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling brightly as he watched the shock play over their faces. While they had discussed being admitted to the Order they hadn't really been serious. As the tried to let the idea sink in they walked over their seats and sat down. Ginny found herself sitting beside Professor Orion, she saw him glance over and smile at their surprise before returning his attention to the Headmaster who was beginning to address the four of them.

"We've asked the four of you here today to offer you membership in the Order of the Phoenix. While there have been some objections to your admission," a snort from Snape and a scowl from Mrs. Weasley made clear who had been outvoted. "we feel that it is time for you to join us. Your roles within the Order will be explained after your initiation. Are there any questions before we begin?" He was answered with four shaking heads. "Very well." Dumbledore rose from his seat at the head of table and came towards them with a cup in his hand. "Would the four of you please stand and repeat after me. Use your name where I use mine. I Albus Dumbledore,"

"I Hermione Granger,"

"I Ronald Weasley,"

"I Ginevra Weasley,"

"I James Orion,"

Dumbledore continued, "do herby swear my loyalty to the Light."

"do herby swear my loyalty to the Light." The four responded in unison.

"To fight against darkness and protect the innocent until my last breath."

"To fight against darkness and protect the innocent until my last breath."

"This do I swear and my blood so bind me."

"This do I swear and my blood so bind me." Then Dumbledore passed a knife to each of them and instructed them to cut their palms and allow a drop of blood to drop into the cup. Ginny winced slightly as her cut began to sting but it was quickly forgotten as she watched in amazement what happened next. Professor Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, had begun to sing and had flown from his perch to come to a rest on the Headmaster's shoulder. With a trill that filled those present with joy Fawkes shed four tears which dropped into the cup to mingle with the blood. In a flash of light the blood was gone and the cup was now filled with a silvery liquid.

Dumbledore smiled at the four newest members of the Order and gently washed their cuts with the liquid. His eyes twinkled as the looked on in astonishment as their cuts were healed. "Let us welcome the four newest members of the Order of the Phoenix." His words were greeted by applause and cheers from those present and it looked like Mrs. Weasley had gotten over her disapproval as she smiled at her two youngest children, tears of pride in her eyes.

While the cheering was going on Dumbledore had returned to his seat at the head of the table and the four had retaken their seats. Soon everyone had calmed down and directed their attention to Dumbledore once more.

"Today's meeting will not be very long, but I know that by the end of it there will be a number of you with lots on your mind." There were many confused faces at these words and Ginny noticed a wince flash over Orion's face. "To our youngest members," he nodded towards Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, "your tasks will be fairly straightforward for now. We will be supplying you with some extra training in dueling along with your Advanced Magic classes that all three of you have been accepted into. We also ask that you try and feel out the rest of the students to try and see where their loyalties lie."

"You want us to spy on them?" Ron asked.

Dumbledore smiled. "You could put it that way. Is that a problem?"

Now it was Ron's turn to smile. "No problem at all." Ginny could just see the plans to catch Malfoy in a compromising situation begin to form.

Dumbledore chuckled. "I didn't think it would pose much of a problem. Now Professor Orion is already aware of the capacity in which he'll be helping but I felt it was a good idea for everyone else to know as well."

Orion took this opportunity to speak up. "Is this really necessary Albus?" He was shifting slightly in his seat and kept glancing at some of those assembled.

Dumbledore's twinkling had grown even brighter and he appeared to be restraining himself from breaking out into a grin. "I really do feel it would be best James. We wouldn't want anyone to think you weren't contributing.

Orion scowled. "It's just Orion, and I would very much prefer them to think I wasn't contributing if the alternative is my death."

Dumbledore dropped all pretense of trying to be serious. "I hardly think your need be concerned about your health."

Orion glanced briefly at the Gryffindors beside him and at Mrs. Weasley sitting further down on the right side. "I respectfully disagree."

Dumbledore continued to smile. "I'm sorry but I think this is important." Orion appeared to be ready to bolt as Dumbledore continued. "Professor Orion will be acting in a number of different capacities. He will be taking part in the training of our younger members but as his teaching duties include only their training and the one Advanced Magic class he will frequently be absent from the school performing missions for the Order." Dumbledore paused and Orion seemed to be slowly edging his chair back. "He will also be acting as the Order's liaison with the young Mr. Potter."

Silence greeted this statement.

For about five seconds.

"What?"

"Harry? Harry's back?"

"Why him? He's never even met him?"

"Why isn't Harry here?"

"How long has he been back?

The questions were flying and Orion's eyes were darting back and forth as if gauging any possible threats to his person. He seemed to be keeping an especially close eye on Mrs. Weasley who was being surprisingly quiet.

Dumbledore waved for silence. "When Harry left Privet Drive, he eventually ran into Orion. While Harry had disguised himself, he was apparently still recognized by our friend here who offered to train him. With his training finished, Harry returned to Grimmauld Place briefly a month ago. He stated that there was no need for him to return as a student at Hogwarts this year and that he needed to be free to move around and deal with things himself. I spoke with him and he agreed to have Professor Orion monitor his activities so that if there was a need he could contact us or we could contact him. As of right now Orion will be the only one in contact with Harry." That did it. Molly Weasley had restrained herself as she watched her children join the Order and she had held her tongue when it was revealed that Orion would be in contact with Harry. No more. That this man had known where he was, been with him everyday, and not alerted them, not told them that Harry was safe, not brought him back to those who loved him, and now would be the only one allowed to see him again, was too much. She rose from her seat and quickly made her way over to the Professor who, seeing her approach had paled and rose to his feet. Before he had a chance to escape though, she had taken up a position in front of him blocking off all escape routes.

"You will sit down right now and tell us where Harry is and what you did with him or so help me you won't walk out of this room!" While normally Mrs. Weasley was known for extreme volume, this time her words were almost a whisper but everyone could hear the barely restrained fury in her voice. Orion was trapped and he knew it. Glancing around frantically he seemed to visibly relax as he looked into the far corner.

"If you're so concerned about what I've done with Harry," he began, "why don't you ask him?" And he pointed over to the corner. Everyone's heads whipped around in surprise to see...nothing. There was no one there, the only thing the far corner were more portraits of some of the Headmasters.

Heads whipped around yet again to confront Orion only to find he'd disappeared. Somehow he'd made his way around Mrs. Weasley and the only sign of his departure was the glimpse they all caught of the door closing.

"YOU GET BACK HERE!!!!" Mrs. Weasley roared before bolting out of the office after him at a speed that surprised everyone. Everyone else just watched in shock as they tried to figure out what happened. They were stunned yet again when, after hearing the gargoyle move back into its place, they heard a sigh of relief before who should appear but Orion, standing exactly where he had been before.

He smiled. "Well, that was awfully close. I thought she was going to kill me for sure. Now I'm sure we can all have a seat and discuss this reasonably..." he trailed off as he was surrounded by three very stern Gryffindors. "Ummm, I don't suppose you'd all be willing to turn and look at the pretty dragon that just flew in the window? I'm serious, it's right there." he took in their facial expressions and his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I didn't really think that would work."

* * *

By time Ginny made it to her bed that night her mind was still working at top speed. Confronted by Harry's friends Orion had broken very quickly and had given everyone a brief summary of Harry's training. He had learned everything the new trio would be covering in the AM class along with many more highly advanced magics. He had explained Harry's reasons for not returning to Hogwarts and while she understood them, it hurt that he had chosen to stay apart from them. Mrs. Weasley had returned part way through his explanation and only the fact that he quickly hid behind Dumbledore saved him from a hexing. As they left Orion had taken the three aside and explained that while he was in contact with Harry, any owls sent to their friend would still be returned so as not to give away his location. He apologized but was firm on the fact that all contact had to be limited for secrecies sake. He also reminded them that no one could know of Harry's return, a fact that had already been made clear to them by Dumbledore.

Ginny decided that she was going to write to him. While Orion had said he wouldn't act as a post owl between them, she hoped she could convince him to keep it until he happened to meet with him again.

And maybe, just maybe, Harry would write back.

* * *

Harry was in a great mood. He'd been watching as his friends were brought into the Order and had found it very hard not to reveal himself to them. He had observed everyone's reaction to the news of his return and he had found them quite amusing. Snape seemed to be mad that Orion, his new friend, had trained his nemesis. 'If only he knew everything.' Harry chuckled to himself.

It had warmed his heart to see how Mrs. Weasley had been so worked up over his safety. At the same time he also vowed never to show himself to her again without a couple people to act as bodyguards. She wouldn't be happy with him. It had been everything he could do not to fall down laughing when she had gone barreling out of the office to track down her answers.

Ginny had been the hardest to watch. He could see the hurt in her eyes that he hadn't come back to them and as he watched her hold back tears it had been very hard for him to keep his resolution to stay hidden. He'd just wanted to run over and hold her and promise never to leave her again. He knew he couldn't though. As hard as it was, he knew it was for the best. As he too went to sleep he wondered if he would be able to keep it up and follow through with the plan.

His good humor from earlier all but gone his last thought before drifting off to sleep was: "This sucks."

* * *

**A/N:** There it is. All finished. Now, before the theories start flying there are some things I need to make very clear. 1) There is no time-travel in this fic. 2) James Orion is not James Potter. I used the name James for one reason and one reason only. I like it. 3) James Orion is not Sirius Black. I know that everyone assumes Orion is Sirius's middle name and maybe it's true. I used the name Orion for one reason and one reason only. I like it.

Glad we got that out of the way. Now for the responses:

**Lynn-50670:** It's not stupid for Orion to remind you of Harry. Many people are of the opinion that they are one and the same. If you are stupid, then there are a lot of stupid people out there.

**Tiamante Salazar Tameran:** As you can see Orion does indeed know Harry quite well. How would they be able to go through a year of training without the Ferret story coming up? I think that would be impossible. :)

**Lord Sauron the Deciever:** He's giving her hints? Says who? I never said Orion was Harry. :)

**Medicated Drama Queen:** Hope this chapter helps explain a little why Orion and Snape seem to be getting a long. Of course, their friendship has taken a bit of a hit and will be taking another one soon.

**Captuniv:** See above. No time travel.

**Emikae:** He had to treat Gryffindor's the way he treats Slytherins and vice-versa. As you can see it wasn't permanent.

**Snitch20: **Harry Orion. Really? We'll see. I see know reason why both Harry and Orion can't work well with him. Perhaps its Orion who will be what lets them work together. Who knows?

**Lady of Masbolle: **Glad you liked the chapter. Sorry about getting your name wrong though. Khadon actually isn't the name I usually use for things I just pulled it out of nowhere. I usually go by Corrin but the stupid site said it was already taken. Ah well, what can you do?

**Harry Foureyes:** Don't stop with your theories cause I love reading them. It is a little hard to write it without Harry but he'll be making guest appearances every now and then. Before long he'll be appearing much more regularly as the chapters will start to split between 50 Ginny's POV and 50 Harry's.

**Korrd:** Ginny and Harry all the way.

**Emma-Lizzy-Black:** I know I need to update the other story winces/ I've promised myself that I'll get another chapter out this week. In fact, I promise to you and everyone else that if I don't update the other story this week then I will give a definite answer on the "Are Harry and Orion the same person?" question. Pressure's on now.

**Tanydwr:** I do like the whole body-splitting idea. I think I've only seen it in one or two other fics. That isn't the case in this one though. Sorry.

**GiGiFanFic:** Hey, if you think they're the same person that's okay. Cover stories can be rigged, it's true. Doesn't mean they are though. Guess we'll have to wait and see if you're right.

**Fredweasleysgirl:** Oh come on. Share your theories. I love reading them. They make me laugh.

**Timra: **Yes, Orion is Harry's teacher. Is Harry the one who will remove Snape's Dark Mark? Who else do you think could do it?

**iamJulianne:** As you can see Mrs. Weasley didn't kill Orion. Very subtle with the whole coughing bit too. ;)

**lucasfsf:** I don't know if you've kept reading this but I don't think of Orion as a male Mary Sue. There's a lot left to find out about him. Besides, who knows maybe he really is Harry. I never said that he was more powerful than Dumbledore. In fact I never made any reference to his power level at all. I said he was smart and that he mostly just used Wandless magic. Is it terribly surprising that someone who understands magic doesn't need a wand? I don't think so. Also, even if he is powerful that doesn't mean that he'd be out tearing apart Death Eaters. Not everyone is willing to fight or is violent. Second, who says he's not out causing trouble for them. We know Harry has been catching them and who's to say Orion hasn't been helping? Anyways, I've ranted enough. I hope you keep reading my fic but if you don't it's your loss.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed this chapter. Your reviews are wonderful and I can't wake to hear what you think of this one. Check my response to Emma-Lizzy-Blacks review to see my promise about my other fic.

That's all for now.


	6. Nothing is Impossible

**Disclaimer: **You all know the drill by now. This stuff isn't mine and I'm not pretending it is.

**Chapter 5 – Nothing is impossible**

Nothing much had changed for the first few days following the trio's induction to the Order. They hadn't been told anything about Voldemort's plans and the only sign of extra training was the fact that all three of them would be having their first Advanced Magic class today. They were all excited about this but for very different reasons: Hermione, because she couldn't wait to learn. Ron, because he heard Malfoy had made it into the class to and was looking forward to flashing the chocolate frog card at him. Ginny was more anxious than excited though. The morning after the meeting, she had devoted much of her time to drafting a letter for Harry. Now she just had to wait, hoping she'd hear back from him soon. At first she hadn't been sure how to write to him. Should she let him know how angry, scared, and worried she was for him? Should she try to guilt him into coming back? Should she try to support him in what he was doing? She just didn't know. Finally she decided on a fairly safe letter telling him that they all missed him very much (she had decided to change it from "I miss you" to "we miss you") and had asked that he write back telling them how he was doing. Orion had said that he had delivered the letter to Harry but as of the previous day there was still no response from him.

As the three entered the classroom they found seats near the middle and Ginny decided to take the opportunity to see who else had taken the class. She smiled and waved at Neville and Luna who were sitting together on the other side of the class. She was quite glad that they were both accepted. She figured she'd probably be sitting with them a fair number of times throughout the year so as to avoid the arguments that would no doubt continue to pop up between Hermione and Ron. There weren't any other Gryffindor's in the class but she did recognize some Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's from Quidditch and the DA. Hermione had tried to continue the DA last year but she didn't seem to have the patience that Harry had always displayed whenever they made mistakes. After a couple of meetings everyone had decided that it just wasn't working.

She was jolted out of her pondering by the familiar drawl of Draco Malfoy who in the midst of bragging to his fellow Slytherins about how most of this magic would be a piece of cake for him. The rest of the Slytherins didn't seem terribly impressed by him however and she noted that many of the faces that had become familiar to them were absent. Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson obviously had not made the cut for the class and it appeared as if the rest were not as adoring of Malfoy as he thought.

"Well if that's the case then I'll try not to bore you Mr. Malfoy." Professor Orion's voice cut off his bragging and Malfoy flushed as he scanned the classroom trying to find the Professor. His efforts didn't meet with much success.

"Come now Mr. Malfoy. If this class is going to be such a "piece of cake" for you than I'm sure seeing through a simple invisibility charm will be no hard task." Orion sounded quite amused.

Ron was rubbing his hands together and chuckling gleefully as he watched the cocky Slytherin mumble something about 'not wanting to show up the rest of the class'. Ron's glee did not go completely unnoticed.

"Mr. Weasley, you seem to be enjoying your fellow students' discomfiture. Perhaps you can help him out?" Ron was no longer chuckling.

The class listened quietly as they made out the sound of footsteps approaching front of the classroom before the form of a highly amused Professor Orion appeared, sitting at his desk taking a drink from a silver flask looking quite smug.

"I must say," he began with a smile on his face. "I would have been very impressed if any of you had managed to see me. Of course by the end of this year I have no doubt that many of you will be able to so along with duplicating my feat of turning invisible. This can be quite useful since one doesn't always have an invisibility cloak handy." He shot the Gryffindor's a meaningful glance.

"Welcome everyone to Advanced Magic's. We're going to be learning lots of things in this class and I'm going to be asking you to forget almost everything you've already learned about magic." Hermione was beginning to look a little worried. "There's no required textbook for this class, and while you are more than welcome to find the ones I wrote in the library they are not required." He paused and seemed to be collecting his thoughts. "I have one important lesson that I try and teach first to every student that I teach. You all know of course that there are some things that are impossible to do even with magic correct?" a number of nods greeted this statement but Ginny caught the glint of amusement in his eyes as this happened. "Would any of you care to give me some examples?"

Terry Boot, a seventh year Ravenclaw raised his hand. "Bringing back the dead?"

Orion nodded towards him and looked around for more.

"Have more than one Animagus form?" a Hufflepuff suggested.

"Apparating on Hogwarts Grounds." Hermione added which gained her a roll of the eyes from Ron.

"Get a real prediction from Trelawney?" Ron exclaimed, earning him laughter from everyone.

"Defeating the Dark Lord." Malfoy whispered quietly, silencing everyone.

"I'm afraid to say," Orion continued as if Malfoy had not spoken. "that you're all incorrect. The first thing you all must learn in this class is that nothing, and I do mean nothing, is impossible. The dead can be brought back to life through the art of Necromancy. It's a highly dark art which we won't be covering but it can be done. Merlin was known for having at least three different Animagus forms and Mr. Weasley, it may surprise you to know that Professor Trelawney has indeed on occasion made accurate predictions." No one noticed the flash of sadness that crossed his face before he continued as they were all too focused on his words. "It was thought by many that the three Unforgivables were impossible to block. Great strength of will can halt the effects of the Imperius and Cruciatus curse and I'm sure you're all aware of Harry Potter's experience with the Killing curse." He turned to look at Malfoy. "Thus also disapproving your theory that Voldemort" many in the class winced "can not be defeated as he found himself without a body for a good 13 years. I would consider that a defeat wouldn't you?"

Orion rose from his seat behind his desk and took a lecturing position in front of the class before speaking again. "If we look back on the history of the wizarding world it is very easy to see that the strength of our magic has been decreasing." This prompted a couple of students to frown. "Some attribute it to the fact that there are more and more muggleborns joining our society." Ginny spotted Malfoy sneering at Hermione. "Others believe it is because the purebloods have been interbreeding with themselves for so long that they have become weak." No more sneer. "One of the most likely reasons however is that wizardkind has simply become lazy. During the time of Merlin witches and wizards didn't need wands. They were seen as a crutch and used only by those who were too weak to cast their spells without aid. Before long more and more people began to use them because it was easier. The trend of finding an easier way of doing things came as a mixed blessing because as new simpler spells were created many people forgot the strong and powerful magics that those who came before them once possessed. After all, who wants to spend decades learning to control the magic within and around themselves when shaping it with a wand is so much simpler? Of course with the use of a wand to focus there were some who were now able to do magic that otherwise wouldn't have been strong enough. As I said before, to do well in this class you'll need to forget almost everything you've learned about magic and start fresh. Are you up for it?" he looked at them with an arched eyebrow.

The class was captivated and all seemed eager for him to get started. Sensing their impatience he decided to give them what they wanted.

"Wands away everyone." This was greeted by many groans as they all were eager to start with some practical work. "Remember what I said about wands being a crutch? Get used to putting your wands away for this class because everything I plan on teaching you will be done without wands." The groans quickly disappeared as everyone prepared themselves. "The first thing you need to do before performing wandless magic is finding your magical core deep within you. Close your eyes and try to block everything out but the sound of my voice. Imagine yourselves casting a spell. Fell the magic coming from deep within you as it moves through your body to your arms. Feel as it shoots out of your hands and into the air." A couple of the students were startled as sparks began to shoot from their fingertips. Ginny and Ron were quite pleased that they were two of those who had succeeded but Hermione seemed to be struggling. Orion seemed to be pleased with the class's progress. "Good job everyone. Now you need to keep practicing finding your core and channeling the magic out of your hands. Before you can cast actual spells you need to be able to make an instant connection. Keep trying and I'll move through the class to help you out."

The rest of the class period was filled with cries of joy and frustration as the students met with varying levels of success. Hermione was especially frustrated as she was having the most trouble out of everyone. It didn't take long for Orion to notice her frustration.

"Miss Granger, you're thinking to much." She seemed offended that she wasn't performing up to her usual standards. "Wandless magic is less about proper movements and words and more about feeling. Forget trying to force the magic out and just feel it within you. Don't try and push it out, instead let it flow out of you." He spoke in a calm cool voice and his words soothed her as she reached within herself again. This time she was rewarded with success as her red and gold sparks shot out of her hand.

"I did it." She squealed.

Orion gave her a smile. "I never doubted you could. Just remember to feel and not force the magic out and you'll be fine." He moved back to the front of the class again. "I want you all to practice this each night for homework. The faster you manage this, the faster we can get to the real fun." Everyone smiled in anticipation, even Malfoy, as they exited the class.

"Wasn't that brilliant?" Ron exclaimed. "I can't wait to zap Fred and George with sparks from my hand next time they steal my wand from me."

Hermione gave him a glare. "This magic isn't supposed to be used for pranks you know. This is advanced stuff so that we can be better prepared." She then seemed to straighten and a smirk made its way onto her face. "Did you notice how he didn't say apparition was possible in Hogwarts?" she seemed to be very satisfied with herself at having gotten one over the new Professor.

All three were stunned as, with a distinct **pop**, Professor Orion appeared before them. He smiled charmingly at them while his eyes sparkled mischievously. "I just wanted to remind the three of you that you'll be having your private lessons starting tomorrow. You'll be starting with some advanced dueling with Mad-Eye since you still have a ways to go before I can give you extra training in our class work. Enjoy your day." He said before popping away again.

"D-d-did he just…" Hermione couldn't finish as Orion had popped back once more.

"Oh, and Hermione remember, nothing is impossible." And then with a quick wink for the trio he was gone with a pop once more.

The three entered the Great Hall for lunch and took their seats only to be quickly bombarded with questions from their housemates. It seemed that many were interested in just what was going in the Advanced Magic class. There were some students who, upon realizing just what taking the class would have involved, seemed quite relieved that they hadn't been accepted into the class. Ron seemed to be getting a kick out of teasing Hermione about the whole Apparating in Hogwarts.

"Remember Hermione, nothing's impossible." Ron said as he tried to imitate Orion's voice. He kept running into trouble though as he found himself unable to control his laughter at the look of frustration on his friend's face. Not surprisingly Hermione decided to ignore him.

The question and answer (and teasing) period was suddenly brought to a halt by the arrival of a flock of owls making deliveries to many of the assembled students and staff.

"That's strange." Hermione said as she unrolled the copy of the Daily Prophet which had just been dropped in front of her. "We all ready got the paper today." Ron and Ginny watched as she scanned the front page and began to get curious when they noticed her eyes widening. "It must be Harry." She whispered. At the mention of Harry, Ginny quickly snatched the paper from Hermione's hands and began reading it herself.

**_Special Addition Daily Prophet _**

_**A New Mark Flies in the Sky By Rita Skeeter **_

_Late last night Aurors were called to the scene in a small town outside of London. A glowing Mark greeted them in the sky. Not necessarily a surprising sight since the rebirth of You-Know-Who. What was surprising that instead of the green skull and snake of the Dark Mark they were confronted with a Giant Red Lightning Bolt. If that were not enough, Aurors found 20 Death Eaters roped together and left in the middle of the town square. Among the Death Eaters arrested were the Lestrange brothers and Walden Macnair who up until recently was a Ministry employee who specialized in killing magical creatures. This reporter wonders how many other members of the Ministry are sporting the Dark Mark on their arms._

_At this point, Auror's are not giving any information on how the Death Eaters were captured but residents of the town said that they heard the sounds of battle at night and looked out their windows to see a singular figure dueling against the Death Eaters. After having defeated them all he fired this Lightning Mark before apparating away It appears that someone out there is not going to sit around while Death Eaters terrorize the country. Perhaps the Ministry should be following the example of this "Red Lightning" and start arresting Death Eaters. When asked what he thought on the matter Minister Fudge seemed to be quite flustered and refused to comment._

_Whoever and wherever he is lets raise our glasses to this new hero in the war against You-Know-Who._

_**Further information on You-Know-Who's activities – Page 2**_

_**Possible Identities of "Red Lightning" – Page 3**_

_**Recent members of the Ministry found to be Death Eaters – Page 4**_

**_What is Fudge doing? – Page 5_**

The article was accompanied by a picture of the scene soon after the Auror's had arrived. They were in the midst of transferring the prisoners to prison and getting statements from witness. You could still see a slightly faded image of a lightning bolt floating in the sky.

"Well, that's interesting." Ron had been reading over Ginny's shoulder and had summed things up quite well. "Do you really think its Harry?" he asked.

"Of course it's Harry." Hermione said as she rolled her eyes. "Who else would use a Lightning Bolt as their mark? Honestly Ron."

"It was a perfectly reasonable question." Ron huffed indignantly. "I mean this guys took out 20 Death Eaters single handly. Do you realize how powerful he must be? It would be impossible for Harry to take down 20 Death Eaters at once."

"Remember Ron, nothing's impossible." She said with a smirk on her face. "Besides, what if he used the skills taught by Professor Orion." Hermione continued. "In my interview he told me we were going to be learning lots of new spells including some very powerful shields and some offensive spells that can take out multiple people at once. It's quite possible that if he caught them by surprise he could do a lot of damage before they had time to react. Add to that the wandless magic and maybe being able to make himself invisible. It would have given him the advantage."

"I guess so…"

Ginny stopped paying attention as she turned her thoughts to the article. Was it really Harry? It had to be. But how could she stay safely at school knowing that at the same time Harry was off getting into danger.

'Maybe it isn't Harry.' She tried to convince herself. Suddenly she noticed something in the picture that she had overlooked at first glance.

"Hermione!" Ginny interrupted their debate. "Is there any way to do a close-up on these pictures?"

Hermione seemed to be momentarily stunned by Ginny's outburst C before regaining her cool, although she was still slightly puzzled. "Of course there is. You just use your wand to trace the area you want to magnify and tap the picture once and say 'Magnify'. It's a bit of an adaptation on the Magnification spell. Instead of using the Latin term for…"

"Thanks Hermione." Ginny cut her off. She turned her gaze back to the picture in front of her and traced a small area near the outskirts of the town.

"Magnify" she said as she tapped it with her wand. The picture zoomed in to give a close up on the area traced, focusing on a single figure poking his head out from behind the furthest building. A figure with messy black hair and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. A figure who every few seconds seemed to almost be able to tell he was in the picture and would wave towards those watching him with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Well," Ron said resignedly as he was looking over her shoulder once more. "I guess that solves the debate about whether or not it was Harry eh?"

"Yeah," Ginny whispered. "I guess so."

The trio was silent in thought for a moment before Ron sighed. "Poor Harry."

Hermione's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean 'Poor Harry'?"

Ron just shook his head sadly. "He just can't catch a break. He always seems to get stuck with the worst names." He looked at his friends and gave a small smile. "I mean first it was the Boy-Who-Lived, now though? Who's going to take him seriously with a name like 'Red Lightning'? It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Hermione and Ginny exchanged glances and after a moment simultaneously broke into laughter. Ron was quick to join in.

Harry was sitting in a wonderfully comfy chair in the Headmasters office as he waited for the two Professor's who would be arriving momentarily. He allowed himself a brief moment to savor the anticipation of Snape's reaction when he saw Harry sitting there waiting for him. It was going to be amusing.

He turned his attention back to the letter that was sitting safely in his pocket. The letter that he had spent the last few days contemplating. A small smile graced his face as he thought of the redheaded beauty who had written him. To be honest he had expected some sort of Howler from Ginny and the rest of his friends and had been pleasantly surprised to receive a letter wishing him well and telling how much they missed him. He decided to take as a good sign that while all of them missed him it was Ginny who had gone to the trouble of writing him. It gave him hope that he was forgiven for running away. Maybe, just once, things would work out for him. A faint hope. Perhaps it was now time.

He didn't get a chance to pursue that thought any longer though as he began to hear voices coming from the stairway leading up to the Headmaster's office. Two voices.

"Is this really necessary Headmaster. I have plenty of papers trying to masquerade as proper research which I need to correct and I'm expecting some students in detention momentarily." Apparently it hadn't been explained to Snape just what was going to be happening her tonight.

"Alas, I'm afraid I had the detentions you had scheduled for tonight canceled. I know you'll have to be extra strict to maintain your reputation, " It was as if Harry could hear Dumbledore's eyes twinkling in amusement. "but James seemed to think you would be excited about what he's arranged."

"He goes by Orion. Not James." Snape said the last word with a sneer "And if this is something that he's cooked up then I definitely don't want to be involved." He said sulkily.

Dumbledore snorted. "Are you still upset with him for not telling you about his involvement with Harry?"

"If Orion has been fooled into giving any time at all to that arrogant brat then he is obviously not as smart as I grave him credit for. And if he's willing staying contact with him now then he must be insane." Snape spat out.

Harry could hear the amusement in Dumbledore's voice as they reached the door. "There may come a time when you'll be quite happy that Harry is around. He's not a bad boy Severus and he has been quite helpful recently."

"Bah, I would rather dance naked in the Great Hall then receive any aid from Potter." Snape said these last words just in time for Dumbledore to open the door to his office, thereby revealing a highly amused young man waving at them from his seat.

"That can be arranged without to much trouble if you'd like Sevvie." Harry said sweetly.

Snape turned on Dumbledore in a rage. "WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?" he shouted.

"Have a seat Severus." Dumbledore replied calmly, ignoring the question he's been asked.

"I refuse to do a thing until you tell me what this boy is doing here." Snape spat out.

"Well if he's not interested I say let him go Albus. I have no qualms about leaving Sevvie here to fend for himself." Harry pointed out. He then smiled cheekily at Snape who seemed to have acquired a giant purple vein on his forehead that seemed to be throbbing as he seethed in anger. Apparently he wasn't a fan of his new nickname.

Dumbledore decided that in the interest of peace it would be best if he got to the point quickly. "Severus, please, calm yourself. I was approached by Orion a few days ago as he had said he had found a solution to your problem." He looked pointedly at Snape's arm where, hidden by his robes, the Dark Mark lay.

All his anger seemed to disappear immediately to be replaced with hope. "He's done it?" Snape spoke quietly and Harry could detect a note of wistfullness in his voice. "Is it true Albus?"

Dumbledore smiled kindly. "He's explained his theory to me and I must say it is well thought out and has a high chance of success."

And then the impossible happened…Snape smiled. (A/N See, nothing's impossible. Just like the chapter title says) Not a sinister smile or even just a little turn of the lips. A real, real honest to goodness, ear to ear, white teeth showing, smile. "Well where is he then. Why doesn't he do it now?"

At this point Dumbledore's smile faltered slightly and he avoided looking the Potions Master in the eye. "Yes," he began hesitantly. "you see, the thing is Orion is not capable of the magic required to remove your mark."

"You then Albus?" Snape was now starting to get slightly concerned.

"Errrr, no."

"Who then?" Snape was panicked. He had this horrible feeling he already knew the answer. He had to be wrong though. Hadn't Fate done enough to him by now? Didn't he deserve a break? He followed the Headmasters gaze to the young man sitting down with his legs propped up smiling as if he's one a million dollars.

Snape paled and looked up at the sky. "Why me?"

Harry chuckled. "Just lucky I guess. Well, no point waiting any longer I suppose." And before either of the other wizards present had a chance to react Harry had closed the distance separating him from Snape, had yanked up the sleeve on his left arm and had slapped his had down on it. Covering the Dark Mark. Snape was about to protest when all the sudden the world went black.

(A/N: I was going to leave it here but since I haven't updated in so long I decided I'd better keep going.)

Harry was standing still in the middle of a dark wasteland examining a knot of glowing cords when Snape found him.

"What have you done now Potter?" As opposed to the normal tone of anger or disgust Snape seemed downright curious.

"That's a little unclear Sevvie. I suppose the best way of describing it would be to say that we're in your soul."

"WE'RE IN MY SOUL!!!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Snape shouted.

"Well we're not exactly in your soul I just said that was the best way of describing it." Harry replied calmly. "Each wizards magic is linked into who they are, their soul if you will, so in order to fix yours I had to come in."

"Fix my magic?" Snape was curious once more.

"Well yes." Harry was still busy examining the knot of cords. "You see, when you let Voldie put his mark on you he was doing more then just giving you an ugly tattoo. You see these cords here?" Harry asked.

Snape took a moment to study the glowing blue cords that Harry had pointed out.

"Those represent your magic and these ugly red ones are Voldie's. When he gave you the mark he was linking a part of his magic in with yours. Makes quite a mess too."

"Well why did you bring me here too? And why does everything look dead?" Snape snapped.

Harry rolled his eyes "Well it's your soul isn't it? Can't exactly just pop in for a visit without you being there too. And however it looks is just a reflection of you. You've been an unfriendly and cold basterd since you got the Mark and your soul shows it. Even more clearly then your greasy hair and characteristic scowl. Now stop bothering me. This is going to take me awhile to unravel it all."

"Well why don't you get started then?" Snape sneered.

Harry finally looked away from the knot to give Snape a look of disgust. "This is very complicated and if I make even one small mistake one of two things could happen. Neither good."

"What?" Snake was curious but confused as well.

"If I make a mistake, best case scenario says your magic and Voldie's magic fuses together and it becomes impossible to separate them without killing you." Harry returned to his contemplation of the knot of magic.

"And worst case scenario." Snape asked quietly.

"Voldie's magic starts to lash out and attaches itself to my magic too then proceeds to drain both of us of every last bit of magic we have before giving it all to him." Harry shrugged indifferently. "Course if that happens our bodies will die from the shock and we won't really have to worry about the consequences now will we?"

Snape was shocked. "Why?" he managed to croak out.

Harry gave him a glance and a raised eyebrow. "Awfully articulate aren't you? I'm afraid you're going to have to be a bit more clear if you want me to answer your questions."

Snape regained his cool. "Why of all people is it you who is doing this? Why are you risking yourself?"

Harry smirked. "Aside from the joy of knowing that if it works you're in my debt?" Snape scowled. Harry didn't notice. "There's a couple of reasons actually. One of the more important ones being that it will piss Voldie off. He's rather annoyed that you managed to get away and has been enjoying causing you pain through it. Anything that bugs him is worth doing in my books. I also have a theory that part of the reason Voldie didn't die when his AK reflected back on him was that he had some of himself tied up in each of his followers. If I can untie it then next time we kill him we'll just have to remove it from or kill all the remaining Death Eaters. Then he'll be gone for good." At this point Harry had started working at the know and was slowly pulling one cord of magic then another as he worked to loosen and untie the mess in front of him.

"And why did Albus say you were the only one who could do it?"

"He didn't. He just looked at me. Thereby implying that I was the only one." Harry replied simply and he managed to free another one of the blue threads. "Well that one freed up some space." Harry smiled and got back to work.

Snape refused to let it go. "Well then if someone else could do it why'd it have to be you."

"Cause the only person who is supposed to be able to do this is the one who's magic is linked to yours." Harry said with a grunt as he pulled at one of the red cords of magic. He fell away as he lost his grip on it. "Well that didn't work. What if I do this one first?" he mumbled to himself as he went to work on a thinner cord of red magic which he eventually freed.

"Voldemort." Snape shuddered as he said the name of his former master. "I'm confused though. If the Dark Lord is the only one who can undo it then what are you doing?"

"Cheating." Harry said with a smile. "I'm using my link to Voldie, through my scar, to get into his link with you. It's ingenious if I do say so myself. Of course it meant I had to be in physical contact with your Mark to make it work. That's what earned you the pleasure of my company."

Snape snorted. "Being in your company is anything but a pleasure."

Harry shrugged, "Whatever, your loss. Personally, I think we would be able to get along quite well if you weren't so convinced I was my father. Your loss though." And with that he tuned out all distractions and went back to working on the knot, which had shrunk in size by about a quarter since he had started.

While Harry worked tirelessly at the knot Snape was starting to re-evaluate his opinion of the young man before him. Deciding that maybe he had been a bit harsh with Harry in the past he decided he would take some time to observe the boy in future to see just how he behaved. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Pott-Harry? If you're using your link to the Dark Lord is it possible that he's aware of what's happening?"

Harry laughed. "Of course he's aware. I'm playing around with parts of his magic. How could he not notice? He's actually been watching us since about five minutes after I started."

"WHAT!" Snape spun trying to find some sign of the most evil wizard alive. He stopped when he heard an evil high-pitched laughter that was all to familiar ring across the wasteland that was his soul before coming together and forming the body of Voldemort. Snape reached for his wand before realizing that in this world he didn't have it. Fortunately he was being ignored by Voldemort just as Harry was ignoring everyone and focusing on the job at hand.

"I was wondering if you'd notice I was here boy. I must say that I'm impressed."

"It doesn't take very much to impress you if your Death Eaters are any sign of those with skill. It's actually kind of embarrassing how easily I've been taking them down."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed as he spoke. "So that was you who interfered yesterday?"

Harry snorted. "Obviously. Although I must say I'm rather disappointed with the name. Red Lightning? Honestly you'd think they could be more creative then that. I guess you wouldn't understand though. I mean you thought 'Lord Voldemort' sounded cool." Harry let go of the thread of magic he was working on as he had to clutch his stomach in an attempt to halt his laughter.

Voldemort growled and brought his wand up to curse Harry. Harry just looked at him and laughed even harder.

"Oh no! I'm so scared. The big bad dark wizard is going to hex me." He stopped laughing and looked Voldemort straight in the eye. "I hope you have good aim though. Cause if you happen to hit your own magic then Tommy go bye-bye." Harry pretended to wave good-bye to the seething dark wizard.

An evil small soon found its way onto Voldemorts face as he regarded Snape for what seemed like the first time. "Well let's see how our dear traitor fares then shall we? Crucio!" He called out and the spell hit Snape right in the chest causing him to fall to the ground in pain.

"Going to save him Potter?" Voldemort said with a smirk.

Harry, who was almost finished with the knot, didn't even look up as he answered. "I wasn't planning on it actually. This is his soul. He has the power to help himself and if he doesn't realize that then that's his problem not mine."

This appeared to puzzle the dark lord and he broke the spell over Snape. "So you don't care if I torture him?" he asked wonderingly.

Harry shrugged. "Nope, not really. He's kind of annoying and God knows he probably deserves it. Try to do it quietly though. I'm busy right now." There were now less than half a dozen threads to untie and Harry was moving through them quickly. Voldemort noticed this.

"I see you're hoping you can free him while I'm distracted torturing him. I suppose I should just finish him off then. If he's not mine anymore then there's no reason why he should live. AVADA KEDAVRA!" He shouted the words for the killing curse and as the green light left his wand Snape began to think maybe he had been right about Harry all along. 'I always thought his stupidity would get me killed.' He thought to himself. Time seemed to slow as he watched the green light that was his death slowly approach. His only regret was that he would still have the Mark on him when he died. Even in death he would have the reminder of that monster. He closed his eyes and prepared to welcome death.

"Accio Snape!"

Snape felt himself being pulled to the side and as he opened his eyes he saw the killing curse crash into his previous position as he went flying over to Harry's side.

"I said you could torture him. Not kill him." Harry placed himself in-between the fallen Snape and Voldemort. He then reached out to what used to be a knot and was now just two cords of magic, one red, one blue, and with one smooth motion he untied the two. With the last of the red threads gone Voldemort felt himself weaken slightly. He watched in frustration as the form of Severus Snape disappeared from view. He snarled in fury as the sun came out and life began to return to what had once been the wasteland of Snape's soul.

"You haven't gotten rid of me yet." He snarled. "As long as I'm still here I can rebuild my connection to him."

Harry smiled. "Then I suppose I'll just have to kick you out then. Won't I?"

"You think you have the power to banish me from his mind." Voldemort laughed. "Foolish boy. While you may be stronger then you used to be you're still no match for me."

"Ordinarily that would be true." Harry's eyes began to sparkle. "But right here I have the advantage. Both of us are straining our magic being here but I have Snape on my side."

Voldemort's eyes widened in realization and he turned just in time to by a plant that looked a lot like Devil's Snare.

Harry chuckled. "I'd say that as Snape's soul rebuilds itself it's trying to get rid of you. That's just my guess though."

Voldemort quickly dispatched the dangerous vine but looked around himself in horror. The wasteland that had been present before was gone and they now stood in a forest teaming with life. A forest that appeared to be angry. From the treetops dropped a group of Acromantula who quickly tried to feed on the dark lord. He quickly blasted them away but they were followed by many other monsters and plants which attacked him in an attempt to drive him from it's midst.

Harry watched as Voldemort continued to fling large amounts of magic around as he protected himself from the vengeful forest. He was surprised, and a little concerned, at just how much magic Voldemort was using and he began to wonder if he was actually going to be able to stop him. With one finally surge of power Voldemort erected a shield around both himself and Harry which separated them from the rest of the forest.

"It's you." He choked out. "You're the reason he's fighting so hard. You've been giving his soul some of your strength to speed up its recovery."

Harry prepared himself. It was just the two of them now. "You got it Tommy. Guess we'll just have to finish this ourselves now." He collected all of his magic, knowing that if this failed he'd be to exhausted to fight back, and threw it all in a concentrated beam of white light at Voldemort. Voldemort shot a beam of red light from his hand and the two met in the middle. They began to push against one another and slowly Harry began to lose ground.

"See Potter. You can't beat. Once I've beaten your puny magic back you'll be expelled out of Snape and I can rebuild my control over Snape. This time I'll make it stronger and he'll serve me once more. Willingly or not. There's nothing you can do." Voldemort began to laugh as his beam of red pushed ever closer to Harry's outstretched hand.

Harry was already putting everything he had into his beam and he now knew it wouldn't be enough. "Now would be a great time to help me out Sevvie!" he called out. He felt some force acknowledging his request and from behind him came a beam of blue light, joining with his own in fighting back the red. Harry turned to see the ghostly form of Snape standing behind him with a slight smile on his face.

"My name isn't Sevvie."

Harry's eyes began to sparkle a bit. "Of course it isn't Sevvie. Why don't we worry about that latter though after we've kicked old Voldie out of here."

Snape nodded and a look of concentration appeared on his face. Harry turned back to face Voldemort who was looking very angry, and a little afraid, as the two joined beams began to push the red away. Harry concentrated even harder, pushing himself far beyond his limits, and their light beam began to push the red back even quicker. When the joined beam of blue and white was just inches from Voldemort he realized that he had lost. "Impossible! I won't let you beat me. You can't." he wasn't taking it well. With one last push the beams of Harry and Snape crashed into Voldemort and in a blast of light he was gone.

Harry smiled and as he dropped to his knees, completely exhausted and drained of magic, he remembered one of the most important lessons he had ever learned.

"Nothing's impossible." He whispered before giving in to exhaustion and collapsing face first onto the ground.

**A/N: How do you like that everybody? So the kid's have had their first class with Orion. Harry's running a much with the nickname "Red Lightning" (poor guy)** **and Snape and Harry managed to work together. Not bad for one chapter eh?**

**My apologies to all you guys on the long wait between chapters. Would any of you believe that a meteor through flew my window destroying my computer? Anybody? Really, you believe me? It was a pretty lame excuse you know. Anyways, I'm sorry and I'll try not to let it go this long again. I hope the extra length of this chapter makes up for the wait you suffered through.**

**On to the responses:**

**Athenakitty:** There may be other bets between Snape and Harry but we'll have to see. Snape isn't terribly pleased with Orion right now but he'll get over it. Will the Dark Nark be gone? Yeah, it is now. Harry won't reveal himself to anyone else for a while though. His friends will be catching peaks of him though as you saw in this chapter. Ron and Hermione getting together? Probably but who knows when those two will ever clue in.

**RealityIntrovert**: I think reading my fic should come before doing work so please don't hit yourself on the head. I like your idea but unfortunately it isn't right. Sorry.

**fhippogrif:** Yes this fic will cover the entire seventh year and end with Voldemort's defeat. Or Harry's. One or the other.

**Lady of Masbolle:** You seem awfully convinced that Harry and Orion are the same person. Only time will tell if you're right though. I imagine Harry would very much like to know what Ginny's thinking but next chapter Ginny will get a look at what Harry's thinking.

**Maxfic:** I said very clearly at the end of last chapter that I used the names "James" and "Orion"because I liked them and for no other reason.

**GiGiFanFic:** Don't feel stupid about the Mary-Sue reference. The term "Mary-Sue" is used to describe an original character that comes out of nowhere and is pretty much a perfect person. For example a girl that transfers to Hogwarts who is stunningly beautiful, smarter than Hermione, perfect personality, very powerful magically and an expert dueler who just happens to become Harry's soulmate. She would fall under the category of a "Mary-Sue". I hope that clears things up.

**Remmy Wolf: **Orion and Harry don't have to be the same people. Orion spent a year training him and could have been told plenty about Harry's adventures and his friends.

**BJH:** I didn't come right out and say James Orion wasn't Harry Potter because I'm enjoying the fact that none of you know for sure. Some people are sure they're the same. Some are sure they aren't. I refuse to get in the middle of it so you'll just have to wait and see. How did the person of James Orion publish things three years ago? Maybe because it isn't a persona and James Orion is a person who published those books three years ago.

**Harry Foureyes: **Okay I have to get this off my chest: I LOVE YOUR THEORIES! Every time I read your reviews I spend a good five minutes laughing at them. The love child of James Potter and Sirius Black? I don'' even want to know how that would work. You're killing me. And yes, this will be Harry/Ginny and things will start happening soon. Very soon.

**QueenWeasel:** I like your theory because that's the way I think canon will go. Harry did display an ability to grow his hair out so maybe he will have some metamorphmagus skills. I hope so.

**Rosaline Kells:** Here's a bit more Harry for you. Hope you enjoyed.

**Silver Warrior: **Heck, I'm a little scared of Mrs. Weasley myself and I even know she's just a fictional character.

To everyone else who reviewed thanks. I wouldn't be able to keep going if I didn't have your support. To all you people who were hoping for a definitive answer on whether or not Harry and Orion were the same…tuff.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and stay tuned for the next one. It will be coming out MUCH sooner and will probably be titled "The Unsent letters" or something to that effect. You'll start to get details on exactly what Harry was up too, and what he was thinking during his year absence.

Catch you all later and please review.


	7. Letters Unsent

**Disclaimer: **You all know the drill by now. This stuff isn't mine and I'm not pretending it is.

**Chapter 6 – Letters Unsent**

Ginny awoke the next morning to the feeling that something was off. She couldn't tell what it was exactly but the feeling was still there, at the edge of her mind as she descended to breakfast. She came to the doors leading to the Great Hall and was surprised by how quiet it was. The normally present sounds of a hundred or so staff and students eating breakfast were absent.

'I hope I haven't missed breakfast.' She thought to herself as she glanced at her watch. No, it should still be going on. With a shrug she pushed open the door to the Great Hall and entered a scene of complete silence. Ginny walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down beside her brother.

"Why's it so quiet in here." Amidst the silence she felt like she was shouting instead of only whispering in her brother's ear.

Ron was sitting there in shock with an untouched plate of food in front of him. He didn't seem to hear Ginny, or if he did he didn't acknowledge it.

"Will you snap out of it and tell me what the big deal is?" Ginny was starting to get frustrated as she glanced around at all the other students who seemed to be in shock as well.

Ron shakily brought his hand up and pointed towards the staff table. There, sitting in his normal spot was Professor Snape eating his breakfast. Ginny now understood why everyone was so shocked.

The figure of Professor Snape was almost unrecognizable. Instead of his normal black robes they were now a dark navy blue. In the place of his usual greasy blacks hair was shinny, freshly washed hair tied back in a ponytail. But the part that was most shocking of all was that Snape's customary sneer was missing and had been replaced by… a smile.

Ginny decided that now was a good time to join the rest of the school in their shock.

Snape had, of course, noticed at this point that everyone was staring at him. 'Just because I look a little different gives them the right to stare at me? I don't think so.' He rose to his feet and as he did his familiar scowl returned to his face.

"Anyone still staring at me by the time I count to three will be joining me in detention for the next week as well as losing their house 50 points." The students paled and quickly tore their gazes away from the intimidating Potions Master and back to their breakfast plates. Ginny was the only one to keep watching him out of the corner of her eye and so was the only one to notice the slight twist of his lips as he tried to stop himself from smiling.

'Well, I wonder what's happened to Snape?' Ginny thought to herself with a slight smirk on her face.

"He actually looks good now that he's cleaned himself up a bit." This surprising comment came from Ginny's right where Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were studying Snape and giggling to each other.

"I know what you mean Lav. Now that he doesn't look like he crawled out of some hole in the dungeons he looks kind of sexy." Parvati giggled back.

Ron turned to them with an appalled look on his face. "You can't be serious. That's Snape you're talking about." Parvati and Lavender just giggled to themselves again.

Ginny snuck a glance over at Hermione. She was smirking mischievously and gave Ginny a little wink.

"I agree, he just looks so smooth and mysterious." Hermione was looking at the Head table with, obviously faked, longing. Ginny noticed that Ron didn't seem to catch on to that fact that it was faked though. His face had gone bright red and he was now sputtering incoherently. Ginny decided that now she would put the icing on the cake.

"Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind being kept after class by him." She had adopted a sultry voice and quite enjoyed the look of horror coming over her brother's face.

"B-b-but G-g-ginny?" Ron seemed to be close to suffering from a nervous collapse.

'Now to get out of here and leave Hermione to pick up the pieces.' Ginny thought to herself.

"Well, I best be going now. I have Potions next and I certainly don't want to be keeping him waiting." She put special emphasize on the word 'him' and giggled as she grabbed her bags and quickly left the Great Hall. She could hear her brother yelling for her to "GET BACK IN HERE!" while Hermione finally gave up and started to laugh her head off.

'Oh Ron.' Ginny chuckled to herself. 'You're just too easy.'

Despite her bit of fun with Ron at breakfast Ginny wasn't in a particularly good mood. She had been hoping to catch Professor Orion at breakfast so that she could ask after a response from Harry. Apparently he wasn't around though because his place at the Head Table had been empty at breakfast as well as at dinner the night before. She sighed. She was starting to give up hope of receiving any word from Harry at all.

She managed a slight smile as her friend, and fellow Gryffindor, Colin Creevy, greeted her. Colin had been the only sixth year, besides Luna, whom she had formed a close friendship with. Her first year at school and the whole 'Chamber of Secrets' incident and left a number of people wary of her. She didn't mind though. She'd rather have just a few close friends anyway.

"Hey Ginny, how you doing?" Colin called to her with a smile on his face.

"Not to bad. I was having a bit of fun with Ron at breakfast. Aside from that I'm just looking forward to seeing what a Potions class with the new Snape will be like." She gave him a faint smile.

"You okay?" Colin could sense that she wasn't as happy as she was pretending to be.

This time Ginny managed a real smile at his concern. "Thanks Colin, I'm just a little tired I think."

Colin looked a little skeptical. "If you're sure then." He hesitated, he knew she wasn't happy but didn't want to push it. "Well, if you ever need to talk though you can come to me."

"I will." Ginny smiled and gave her friend a hug right before they entered the Potions class.

Snape entered shortly afterwards with a scowl on his face but once more Ginny caught a slight smile on his face as he watched his students quickly take their seat and silently prepare their workspaces.

"Today," He began with a sneer. "We will be reviewing a potion that you all should have perfect last year. Madame Pomfrey has informed me that the Hospital Wing is running low on Pepper-Up potions. You will be spending the rest of today's class brewing them." He looked at the class for a moment. "Well, why haven't you started yet?" he shouted at them and gave a small chuckle as they hurried to begin brewing their potions.

Ginny kept of her attention on her potion and half on studying Snape. Something was definitely different, besides the obvious physical changes of course. She just couldn't figure out what. She watched him as he was marking test papers and caught him almost starting to smile a number of times. When one of the other Gryffindor's knocked an empty vial on the ground Snape simply told him to clean it up. Everyone was shocked that he didn't take any points off.

And finally she figured it out.

It was only for a couple of seconds but she watched as he stopped his test marking and stared, as if in awe and wonderment, at his left arm. It all began to click. His new appearance, his attitude, looking at his arm, it must have finally happened. She remembered the words she had heard Professor Orion say that first morning: _"Ahh, but you forget who you're speaking too. I've been mulling over an idea for the last couple of weeks. Give me a bit longer and I think I may be able to think of a way for it to be removed." _It looked like he had finally found a way to do it. But then she realized what else he had said: _"I never said I would be the one to remove it. I think I know how it could be done though."_ If Orion hadn't done it then it must have been…

Ginny was so shocked as she realized what had happened that she couldn't hold back her exclamation.

"He did it!" she was staring intently at Snape and the whole class turned to her as she spoke. Snape looked up in annoyance at first but as he noticed her staring at him and glancing at his arm he realized she somehow knew what had happened.

"Miss Weasley, remain silent and work on your potion." He wasn't really expecting that to stop her but he had to try.

"It was him wasn't it?" Ginny wasn't even aware anymore of the class, looking at her in confusion, around her. "It was Ha-"She was cut off by Snape

"Weasley! My office now!" And Snape stormed into his office before she had a chance to respond.

Ginny practically bolted into the office and the rest of the class just tried to figure out what was going on.

She entered the office and Snape quickly closed and sealed the door before casting a silencing charm and whirling on her in a fury.

"What do you think you were doing in there?"

Ginny ignored his anger. "It was Harry, wasn't it? He removed your Dark Mark didn't he?" She could barely contain herself as she smiled at him.

Snape rolled his eyes. "Bloody Gryffindor's." he sighed before continuing. "I don't know how you know what's happened, nor do I care. It is not the sort of thing that should be discussed in the middle of class. I would have thought even a Gryffindor would realize that." He looked at her disapprovingly. "Apparently I was wrong."

His words of reprimand had no real effect on her however. "So it was Harry?"

"Yes. Mr. Potter was able to perform a service for me." Snape muttered, clearly not pleased with owing a favor to a Potter.

"Well?" Ginny could barely contain her excitement.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Well what?"

Now it was Ginny's turn to roll her eyes. "Where is he? Is he still here?"

Snape hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly. "He is…unavailable."

Fear gripped her heart. "Is he okay? Has he been hurt?"

Again Snape hesitated before answering. "Mr. Potter pushed himself past his limits in removing the Mark. As of last night he was suffering from magical exhaustion and was receiving treatment in the Hospital Wing. You must understand that it is very important no one knows that he is here. He will not be receiving any visitors."

However he might as well have been speaking to himself as the moment she heard where her Harry was in the school Ginny had burst out of his office, and was on her way to the Hospital Wing at top speed with a smile on her face. Snape was left standing in his office by himself staring at his open door in surprise.

"I could have sworn I sealed that door." He muttered to himself.

After five minutes of straight sprinting Ginny arrived, out of breath, at the entrance to the Hospital Wing. She paused to catch her breath before entering. Her mind however was still racing. 'He's in there. Finally I'll get to see him again.' Suddenly she felt a flash of fear. 'What if he doesn't want to see me?' Her stomach wrenched at the thought. 'He hasn't replied to my letter at all. Maybe he doesn't even consider me a friend anymore. It's not like we were close for very long.' Her doubt continued to grow inside her and she felt tears springing into her eyes. She was just about to turn and run away when the door to the Hospital Wing swung open revealing a very tired looking Professor Orion. She was only surprised for a moment.

"Professor?" Now his absence at breakfast made a little more sense. He had trained Harry and they must have gotten close to each other. It wasn't surprising then that he wanted to be with Harry while he was recovering.

Orion jumped in surprise as he realized he wasn't alone. He gave her a warm smile when he recognized who had spoken. "Miss Weasley. Why am I not surprised to see you here?" she could hear the amusement in his voice and she blushed causing him to chuckle. "Being concerned for your friend is nothing to be ashamed of." He grinned wryly at her causing her to blush even more.

"Is he awake?" She tried to hide the mixture of fear and longing in her voice.

Orion looked a little uncomfortable. "Yes…" he steeled himself before continuing. "He woke up earlier this morning and left almost immediately." He could see her disappointment. "I'm sorry Ginny but he couldn't stay."

She was fighting to keep the tears from her eyes. Despite her fear of rejection she still had longed to see him and knowing that she had missed her chance hurt.

"Did he at least leave me a letter?" she whispered.

A slight hesitation. "No he didn't."

Ginny ducked her head and concentrated on the ground, hiding the tears that had begun to stream down her face.

"But…" she looked up and saw the sparkle of mischievous in Orion's eyes. "he did ask me to pass this along to you. He seemed to think you would recognize it."

She noticed that he had a book in his hand which he now offered to her. As she looked it over she gave a gasp of recognition when she realized where she had seen it before.

**FLASHBACK**

Ginny and Hermione had been shopping at Diagon Alley all day as they each searched for a birthday present for Harry. Ginny groaned as they entered Flourish and Blotts.

"Come on Hermione. Can't we find something better than books to get Harry?" Ginny whined.

Hermione sniffed disapprovingly. "Books are a great present and there's plenty of spell books here that would be useful. Harry needs to work hard and apply himself to his studies more."

Ginny just rolled her eyes at her best friend. She knew that Harry didn't another book on Curses or Defense to remind him of Voldemort and those who might die. Since Sirius's death at the end the school term Harry had become withdrawn and angry. Ginny had been one of the only people that he kept in contact with and they had managed to build a close friendship. She knew though that he still kept secrets to himself and she wanted him to be able to confide them in someone. She felt she was making progress but that it would take more time. It was then that a sign deeper in the Bookstore caught her eye.

_**SALE ON MAGICAL JOURNALS! **_

_RECORD YOUR DREAMS AND HIDE YOUR SECRETS FROM OTHERS._

She shuddered as she remembered the diary she had used in her first year that had been possessed by the teenage spirit of Voldemort. She continued to study the journals as she thought of Harry. It would be perfect for him. He could write whatever he wanted in it without fear. It would stop him from keeping everything bottled up.

Thrilled with herself for having found the perfect birthday present she grabbed one of them whose cover was simple black leather. As she paid for it she was informed that she could get the initials of the owner engrave on the cover. She though that would look nice and a couple minutes later she had bought the journal which now had the letters **HJP** engraved in gold on the cover.

**END FLASHBACK**

As Ginny remembered buying the journal she traced the initials engraved on the book in front of her: **HJP**. It was the same journal she had given to him before he ran away. Now he had returned it to her.

"He said you would be the only person able to read it." Ginny jumped as she was startled out of her memories by the man who she had forgotten was still there. He was obviously amused. "You're the only one who can open it and only when you're alone. According to him if anyone else tries then "interesting things will happen." It would probably be a good idea to keep this a secret from your friends. Whatever Harry wrote in that book was meant for you and you alone." Orion smiled at her again. "I hope that makes up for the lack of a letter."

Ginny was in awe over the gift Harry had given her. She couldn't believe it. "Thank you." She whispered.

Orion knew that her thanks were more directed at the young man who was willing to share himself with her than with him. He smiled, gave her a small nod before leaving her alone to enjoy the gift she had been given.

Ginny rushed into her room, thankful that all the rest of her year mates were still in class like she should be. She sat down on her bed and, with shaking fingers, opened the journal in front of her. A small piece of paper was wedged in before the first page.

_Dear Ginny,_

_Thank you for the letter. I've missed you too and I wish could be different and that I could be there with you guys now. I hope that my journal will help answer the questions you no doubt have for me. Orion should have explained that you're the only one who can read what's written. Anyone else tries and I ask that you take pictures of the results. If you have any questions you can trust Orion but don't share any of this with anyone else. _

_I hope that I'll be able to come back soon but until then take care Gin._

_Love Harry._

_P.S. What are you doing? Ron and Hermione are **still** not together? I'm a little disappointed. I would have thought you could have handled them by now. Perhaps they're just too thick for anyone to help._

Ginny laughed and wiped a tear out of her eye as she put the note down to the side before starting on the first entry.

_July 31st, 1995_

_Dear Ginny,_

_At first when I opened my gift from you (this journal) I must admit I was very surprised. I certainly wasn't expecting you of all people to send me a diary. It made a bit more sense as I read the accompanying note though in which you informed me that "if you're going to be all broody then you may as well write it down instead of keeping it bottled up and biting our heads off." A little harsh don't you think? Okay, fine. I can just see you looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Maybe I was a little moody this past year but I'm getting a lot better._

_I'd like to thank you for the gift. I do need something to write my thoughts in and this will be perfect for it. I feel a little uncomfortable keeping a diary though. I can just imagine the teasing I would get from Ron and the twins about it. Finally coming to the decision that I was much too manly to keep a diary (stop laughing. I'm very manly) I decided I would use this journal to keep track of all the letters I would be writing to you but can't._

_What do I mean? First I'm going to have to make you promise not to hurt me. Done? Good. I'm running away from Privet Drive. Well, not just Privet but from Dumbledore, the Order, Hogwarts, everything. I know some things that I haven't been able to share with you yet and I feel that in order to survive I need to take things into my own hands. Because of this I probably won't be seeing you for a long time. I want you to know how much I hate doing this but it really is for the best. I would explain more but my window of opportunity has just opened and I need to get out of here while I can. I'll write more soon._

_Take care, Gin._

_Love Harry._

Ginny smiled. Her heart leapt at the thought that he had decided she was the one to write too. Not Hermione or Ron. Her. She turned the page and started on the next entry.

_August 2nd, 1995_

_Dear Ginny,_

_Some words of advice for you: If you ever decide to run away from home make sure to take a route with hotels. Last night was one of the most uncomfortable night's sleeps I've had in my life. Coming from a person who slept in a cupboard that's saying something._

_After hopping on my broom and leaving Privet drive I'd been flying, with only a couple of breaks, for 24 hours straight. You would think this would make it easy for me to get to sleep. If only life were that simple. By the time I couldn't stay on my broom any longer I found myself in the middle of nowhere with only a barn to take shelter in. It had been raining all night and I was just looking forward to getting somewhere warm and dry. What do I find in the barn? Sheep! Dozens and Dozens of bloody sheep. What kind of bloody farmer keeps his sheep all in a barn? It's madness I tell you. With no other real options I found myself a little corner and tried to get some sleep. It wasn't easy though. First of all I'd like to say that dozens of wet sheep do not generate the most pleasing of odors. They stank. Now I'm not an expert on sheep and I don't know if all sheep stink when they're wet but these guys smelled worse then…then…then a whole barrel full of dung bombs. They almost made me throw up._

Ginny couldn't help herself and she laughed at the image of Harry squeezing in amongst a bunch of sheep.

_Now I bet you're laughing at me right now but it really wasn't fun. They kept moving around too. It was like the bloody things never slept. Every now and then one of them would bump in to me and twice I was woken up by one that seemed to think my hair looked a lot like grass. They're not even the same color! _

Ginny was now howling with laughter.

_Suffice is to say after the second time I realized that I was a wizard and I started hexing. The next time that blasted sheep came over my hair bit back. It's actually a very weird experience having your hair bite something. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it. After that I was able to get a bit of sleep and now that I've woken up I'll be heading out momentarily. _

_I imagine that with my disappearance everything is probably a little crazy at your house and I just hope I haven't upset you too much. I miss you all already and there were many times yesterday when I almost stopped and turned around to fly back to you guys. It's just something I have to do though._

_Take care, Gin._

_Love Harry._

She just loved how he ended each of the letters. She wasn't sure just what she meant to him but reading these gave her hope. She looked at her clock and saw that she had time to read maybe one more entry before she'd have to deal with people again. She took a deep breath and turned to the next entry.

_August 3rd, 1995_

_Dear Ginny,_

_I figure I probably shouldn't put this off any longer. If you've somehow come into possession of these letters (meaning I probably gave them to you) you would no doubt like an explanation for my actions recently. As I'm not locked in my room at the Dursley's nor am I dodging sheep in a barn this seems like a good time to provide some answers to you._

_After Sirius died Professor Dumbledore sent me to his office with a portkey. He then gave me some information that he should have given me a long time ago. His actions have made me doubt his ability to make decisions. He seems to have forgotten that we are people and not just pawns to be used against Voldemort._

_You know that when we were at the Ministry the Death Eaters were trying to get their hands on a prophecy. This prophecy was told about me and Voldemort. Well, even though it was broken during the fight it was not lost. Dumbledore was the person it was originally told to and he decided it would be a good time to tell me about it after my godfather had just died. He's got great timing doesn't he? Basically what it says is that I'm the one who's going to have to kill Voldemort. Not Dumbledore or anyone else in the Order, me. It sucks doesn't it?_

_I started to ask myself why I hadn't been told. If I was the only one who could beat him then why wasn't I being trained? Instead I was shipped back to Dursley hell and just left out of the loop again. I realized that Dumbledore wasn't going to train me and if I wanted to win I would have to seek training elsewhere. I received a package from Sirius that was to be forwarded to me in case of his death. He wrote me a letter and enclosed a spell that would mask my wand signature from the Ministry. For the past month I had been practicing and perfecting all my old spells while I tried to figure out what to do next. Finally I came to the conclusion that it was time for me to leave and seek training elsewhere._

_I feel this decision was the right one to make because I knew I couldn't stay with the Dursley's any longer. Dumbledore said I would be protected there as long as I could call it my home. He really must be as crazy as everyone thinks if he thought I ever could call that place my home. I don't think I have a home anymore. It makes me sad sometimes to think about it. I don't remember ever living with my parents and besides they house where we lived was destroyed. The Dursley's house has never been home and as much as I've loved visiting the Burrow I've always felt like a guest there. Hogwarts used to feel like my home but now there are just too many bad memories there. The Chamber, the Tournament, Cedric dying, that damn Umbridge woman, Dumbledore… It's just too much._

_A part of me ran away from the Dursley's not only to train but in the hopes that I could find a new place to call home. Somewhere I could be safe and feel comfortable. To finally find a place where I belong. I really hope I can find it some day._

_Take care, Gin._

_Love Harry._

**A/N:** Isn't this exciting? Another chapter finished quickly. It also looks like we're all going to get to find out what Harry was up too. Are you as excited as I am? I bet you are. During the next few chapters Ginny you'll get to see some of Harry's entries where you'll get some peaks into what Harry was thinking and doing in his year away.

Response time:

**Korrd:** Yes this will be Harry/Ginny

**Athenakitty:** You're reviews frustrate me. You can't even call them reviews. All you do is list a bunch of questions you have without giving any feedback on the story itself. Reviews are meant to express your opinion on the fic you're reading not just place to ask questions. I have no problem answering people's questions as long as they give an actual review of the chapter with them.

**Lioma Darksong:** Wow, thanks for the praise. I'm glad that you're enjoying it so much and I hope I can keep you hooked.

**Marquerida:** I'm not cruel I'm just building suspense. You're the one who's cruel. How can you keep your opinion of Harry and Orion secret? I get so much fun out of reading people's theories. It's not nice for you to keep secrets from me. I'm allowed to cause I'm the writer. I know it's a double standard and not exactly fair but I don't make the rules.

**Harry Foureyes:** You kill me with your review once again. I just love it. You seemed a little upset about Draco being in the Advanced Magic class. This class is not just for "light" wizards and witches. It's a class being offered to all qualified students at Hogwarts. Draco is magically strong enough to perform the things in the class. It wouldn't be fair for Orion to reject him on the basis of his possible alignment. Draco is not going to become good and there's always the chance he'll do something stupid to get himself kicked out of the class ;)

**Dr Gero:** As you can see we will be seeing some of Harry's missing time including his training with Orion.

**RealityIntrovert:** Sorry, no good guy Draco in this fic.

**Lady of the Dragons2:** Choosing my fic over sleep is always a good idea.

**Fire Phoenix1: **I chose a forest to reflect Snape's soul after he was freed because I felt it was the opposite of the wasteland that he had before. A forest has so much life in it, with plants and animals, that it mirrors's the new life that is coming into Snape's soul now that he is free.

That's all the responses for now. Tune in next chapter to see Ginny tear into Dumbledore, and read more entries. To top it all off Harry gets a work partner.


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